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A HISTORICAL  EXAMINATION 

OF  THE  STATE  OF  SOCIETY  IN 

WESTERN  AFRICA, 

AS  FORMED  BY 

PAGANISM  AND  MUIIAMMEDANISM,  SLAVERY, 
THE  SLAVE  TRADE  AND  PIRACY, 

AND  OF  TIIE  REMEDIAL  INFLUENCE  OF 

COLONIZATION  AND  MISSIONS. 


COLONIZATION  AND  MISSIONS 


A 

HISTORICAL  EXAMINATION 

OF  THE  STATE  OF  SOCIETY  IN 


WESTERN  AFRICA, 


AS  FORMED  BY 

\ 

PAGANISM  AND  MUHAMMEDANISM,  SLAVERY, 
THE  SLAVE  TRADE  AND  PIRACY, 


AND  OF  THE 

REMEDIAL  INFLUENCE  OF  COLONIZATION  AND  MISSIONS. 


BY  JOSEPH  TRACY, 

SECRETART  OF  THE  MASSACHUSETTS  COLONIZATION  SOCIETT 


PUBLISHED  BY  THE  BOARD  OF  MANAGERS. 


■Second  IsHftron. 


BOSTON: 

PRESS  OF  T.  R.  MARVIN,  24  CONGRESS  STREET. 
1845. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1844, 

BY  T.  R.  MARVIN, 

In  the  Clerk’s  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  District  of  Massachusetts. 


COLONIZATION  AND  MISSIONS. 


PART  I. 

The  question  stated. — Proceedings  of  Missionary  Boards  and  Colonial  Governments. 
— Charges  against  the  Government  of  American  Colonies  at  an  end. — Charges 
against  the  Moral  Influence  of  the  Colonists  as  Individuals,  and  Mode  of  meet- 
ing them. 

“ If  the  experiment,  in  its  more  remote  consequences,  should  ulti- 
mately tend  to  the  diffusion  of  similar  blessings  through  those  vast 
and  unnumbered  tribes  yet  obscured  in  primeval  darkness,  reclaim 
the  rude  wanderer  from  a life  of  wretchedness  to  civilization  and 
humanity,  and  convert  the  blind  idolater  from  gross  and  abject  super- 
stitions to  the  holy  charities,  the  sublime  morality  and  humanizing 
discipline  of  the  gospel,  the  nation  or  the  individual  that  shall  have 
taken  the  most  conspicuous  lead  in  achieving  the  benevolent  enter- 
prise, will  have  raised  a monument  of  that  true  and  imperishable 
glory,  founded  in  the  moral  approbation  and  gratitude  of  the  human 
race,  unapproachable  to  all  but  the  elected  instruments  of  divine 
beneficence.” 

Such  was  the  language  addressed  by  the  American  Colonization 
Society  to  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  in  a memorial  presented 
two  weeks  after  the  formation  of  the  Society.  To  the  hope  which 
these  words  express,  we  are  indebted  for  a large  and  valuable  part  of 
countenance  and  aid  which  we  have  received.  For  some  years  past, 
however,  this  hope  has  been  pronounced  a delusion.  Men  who  strenu- 
ously contend  that  the  colored  people  of  this  country  are  fit  for 
social  equality  and  intercourse  with  our  white  population,  assert,  not 
very  consistently,  that  when  settled  in  Africa,  they  corrupt  the  morals 
of  the  idolatrous  natives,  and  actually  impede  the  progress  of  civiliza- 
tion and  Christianity. 

These  assertions  have  had  the  greater  influence,  because  they  have 
been  thought  to  be  corroborated  by  the  representations  of  American 
Missionaries,  laboring  for  the  conversion  of  the  heathen  in  and  around 
the  colonial  possessions.  These  missionaries,  it  is  said,  represent  the 
colonies,  or  the  colonists,  or  something  connected  with  colonization, 
as  serious  obstacles  to  the  success  of  their  labors.  In  this  way,  some 
of  our  former  friends  have  been  led  to  disbelieve,  and  still  greater 
numbers  to  doubt,  the  utility  of  our  labors.  The  interests  of  the  So- 


4 


COLONIZATION  AND  MISSIONS. 


The  Charges  against  the  Colonies. 

ciety,  therefore,  and  of  the  colony,  and  of  Africa,  and  of  Christianity, 
demand  an  investigation  of  the  subject. 

It  would  be  easier  to  meet  these  charges,  if  we  could  ascertain  exact- 
ly what  they  are.  But  this  has  hitherto  proved  impracticable.  Com- 
mon fame  has  reported,  that  the  missionaries  of  the  American,  the 
Presbyterian,  and  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Boards  at  Cape  Palmas, 
united,  some  time  in  1842,  in  joint  representation  of  their  respective 
Boards,  containing  serious  charges  of  the  nature  above  mentioned.* 
It  was  reported  also,  that  this  document  was  confidential ; and  that,  for 
this  reason,  and  especially  as  three  Boards  and  their  missionaries  were 
interested  in  it,  no  one  Board  had  a right  to  divulge  its  contents.  As 
this  was  said  to  be  the  principal  document  on  the  subject,  and  to  con- 
tain the  substance  of  all  the  rest,  the  Secretary  of  the  American  Colo- 
nization Society,  at  an  early  date,  applied  to  the  Secretaries  of  those 
three  Boards  for  a copy,  or  at  least  for  the  perusal  of  it ; but  the  request 
was  not  granted.  We  do  not  charge  this  refusal  upon  the  Secretaries 
as  a fault,  or  even  as  a mistake.  We  only  mention  it  as  the  occasion 
of  a serious  inconvenience  to  us.  It  has  also  been  reported,  that  about 
the  same  time,  a certain  pastor  received  a letter  from  one  of  those 
missionaries,  which  was  confidential  in  this  sense;  that  it  might  be 
circulated  from  hand  to  hand,  and  used  in  various  ways  to  our  preju- 
dice, but  must  not  be  printed  nor  copied.  This  report  of  its  charac- 
ter, of  course,  precluded  any  application  for  a copy. 

Now,  how  can  any  man  answer  a report,  that  some  or  all  of  several 
very  respectable  persons  three  thousand  miles  off,  have  said  something 
to  his  disadvantage  ? A man  may  be  seriously  injured  by  such  a re- 
port; but  in  ordinary  cases,  he  must  bear  the  injury  as  best  he  may, 
and  “ live  down  ” its  influence  if  he  can.  In  order  to  reply,  he 
needs  to  know  authentically  who  his  accusers  are,  and  what  things 
they  testify  against  them. 

Let  us  see,  however,  whether  industry  and  a good  cause  may  not 
extricate  us,  even  from  a difficulty  like  this.  We  may  learn  something 
of  the  grounds  of  complaint,  from  the  proceedings  of  the  Boards  of 
Missions;  and  we  may  learn  from  common  fame,  what  common  fame 
has  led  people  to  suspect.  From  all  that  we  have  heard,  the  complaints 
appear  to  be  of  two  classes ; those  which  relate  to  the  action  of  the 
colonial  governments,  and  those  which  relate  to  the  influence  of  the 
colonists  as  individuals.  We  will  consider  them  in  their  order. 

Several  years  since,  there  was  a controversy  between  the  colonial 
government  of  Liberia  and  the  superintendent  of  the  Methodist  Mission 
there,  growing  out  of  a dispute  concerning  duties  on  goods,  imported 
by  the  superintendent  for  the  purpose  of  trade.  But  that  whole  mat- 
ter was  soon  settled.  Another  superintendent  was  sent  out ; and  since 


* Some  have  received  the  erroneous  impression,  that  all  the  American  missionaries  in  Liberia 
united  in  this  representation.  In  fact,  no  missionary  in  any  part  of  Liberia  Proper, — that  is, 
none  in  any  place  under  the  care  of  the  American  ^Colonization  Society, — had  any  concern 
in  it,  or  any  Knowlege  of  it.  The  nearest  station  occupied  by  any  of  its  reputed  signers,  was 
ninety  miles  beyond  the  southernmost  settlement  of  Liberia  Proper.  Some  of  them  had 
spent  a few  days  at  [Monrovia  as  visitors  ; but  for  their  knowledge  of  any  settlement  except 
Cape  Palmas,  they  were  almost  wholly  dependent  on  hearsay.  Their  representations  con- 
cerning the  other  settlements,  if  they  made  any-,  axe  therefore  of  little  value,  and  no  official 
action  nas  been  founded  on  them. 


COLONIZATION  AND  MISSIONS. 


5 


Source  and  settlement  of  the  Difficulties. 

his  death,  the  first  has  gone  back,  with  express  instructions  to  avoid 
his  former  errors.  It  is  not  known  that  the  government  of  Liberia 
has  ever  had  any  other  collision  with  any  missionary,  or  missionary 
society. 

It  appears  from  the  Report  of  the  American  Board  for  1842,  that 
the  missionaries  complained,  and,  as  the  Board  thought,  with  reason, 
of  several  laws  of  the  Maryland  colony  at  Cape  Palmas,  where  the 
mission  was  located.  It  has  been  understood,  that  the  other  Boards 
which  had  missions  there,  entertained  substantially  the  same  views  of 
those  laws. 

To  this  it  is  a sufficient  reply,  that  we  have  nothing  to  do  with  Cape 
Palmas.  The  colony  there  is  a distinct  colony,  with  a government  of 
its  own.  It  was  planted,  and  is  sustained,  by  the  Maryland  Coloniza- 
tion Society,  which  is  not  a branch  of  the  American,  nor  auxiliary  to 
it,  nor  any  way  connected  with  it  or  under  its  influence.  To  bring  a 
charge  against  our  colony  on  account  of  the  laws  of  Cape  Palmas,  is 
as  unjust  as  it  would  be  to  blame  the  government  of  England  for  the 
laws  of  France.  But  this  difficulty,  too,  has  been  settled.  A few 
words  will  explain  its  origin  and  its  termination. — It  was  from  the  be- 
ginning the  policy  of  that  colony,  as  of  ours,  not  to  exterminate  or 
expel  the  natives,  but  to  amalgamate  them  and  the  colonists  into  one 
people.  The  missions  at  Cape  Palmas,  however,  were  commenced  as 
missions  to  the  heathen  natives,  and  not  to  the  colonists.  They  there- 
fore had  a tendency  to  raise  up  a native  interest,  distinct  from  that  of 
the  colonists ; to  keep  the  two  classes  separate,  and  make  them  rivals 
to  each  other,  instead  of  uniting  them  as  one  people.  In  this  respect, 
the  policy  of  the  missions  was  in  direct  conflict  with  that  of  the  colo- 
ny ; and  this  was  the  true  source  of  the  conflict  of  opinion  and  feeling. 
The  case  may  be  better  understood,  by  viewing  it  in  contrast  with  the 
Methodist  mission  in  Liberia.  That  mission  is  not  sent  to  the  heathen 
exclusively,  but  to  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  territory  on  which  they 
labor.  Of  course,  all  who  come  under  its  influence,  colonists  or  na- 
tives, are  drawn  to  the  same  religious  meetings;  all  are  gathered  into 
the  same  churches ; or,  if  children,  brought  into  the  same  schools. 
The  whole  influence  of  the  mission  goes  to  make  natives  and  colonists 
one  people,  and  thus  coincides  with  the  policy  of  the  colony.  The 
contrary  policy  at  Cape  Palmas  naturally  led  to  alienation  of  feeling, 
and  to  acts  of  both  the  government  and  the  missionaries,  which  were 
mutually  unpleasant,  and  some  of  which  appear  to  have  been  unjusti- 
fiable. The  mission  of  the  American  Board  was  removed,  for  this 
and  other  reasons,  to  the  Gaboon  river;  and  that  of  the  Presbyterian 
Board  to  Settra  Krou,  in  Liberia  Proper.  That  of  the  Episcopal 
Board  was  continued  and  strengthened,  and  has  made  peace  by  avoid- 
ing the  original  cause  of  dissension.  The  Report  of  that  Board  for 
the  year  1844,  says  : — “ The  relations  between  the  colonists  and  the 
missionaries  at  Cape  Palmas  during  the  past  year  appear  to  have  been 
of  a friendly  character  ; and  as  the  desire  of  the  latter  to  promote,  so 
far  as  in  them  lies,  the  moral  and  religious  interests  of  the  colonists 
becomes  more  and  more  apparent,  it  is  believed  that  no  obstacles  to 
the  beneficial  influence  of  the  mission  will  be  interposed.”  This  is  a 
very  explicit  statement,  not  only  of  the  fact,  that  in  the  judgment  of 


6 


COLONIZATION  AND  MISSIONS. 


Moral  Influence  of  the  Colonists. 


the  Episcopal  Board,  no  such  “ obstacles  ” now  exist,  or  are  expected 
to  exist  hereafter,  but  of  the  change  which  has  led  to  their  removal. 

At  present,  therefore,  the  government  of  Cape  Palmas,  as  well  as 
that  of  Liberia,  stands  unaccused  and  unsuspected  of  any  hostile  bear- 
ing upon  the  cause  of  missions. 

The  charge  against  the  influence  of  individual  colonists  is  less  easily 
ascertained,  and  therefore  less  easily  met;  but  by  a somewhat  diligent 
inquiry,  we  believe  that  we  know,  very  nearly,  the  substance  of  it. 
According  to  our  best  information,  it  is  not  denied  that  a larger  propor- 
tion of  the  colonists  are  regular  communicants  in  the  churches,  than 
in  almost  any  other  community  in  the  world  ; nor  is  it  pretended  that 
Sabbath-breaking,  profaneness,  or  intemperance  are  very  prevalent.  It 
it  said,  however,  that  most  of  their  religion  is  mere  animal  excitement; 
that  many  of  the  communicants  are  self-deceived,  or  hypocrites;  that 
cases  of  church  discipline  for  immorality  are  numerous  ; that  many  of 
the  colonists  are  lazy  and  improvident ; that  some  make  hard  bargains 
with  the  natives;  that  many  of  them  feel  no  interest  in  the  conversion 
or  improvement  of  the  native  population ; that  they  neglect  the 
instruction  of  hired  laborers  from  native  families ; that,  by  the  prac- 
tice of  various  immoralities,  they  bring  reproach  upon  Christianity  ; 
and  finally,  that  their  children  are  more  difficult  to  manage  in  school, 
than  the  children  of  the  natives. 

Now,  to  a certain  extent,  all  this  is  doubtless  true.  The  world 
never  saw,  and  probably  never  will  see,  a Christian  community  so 
pure,  that  such  complaints  against  it  would  be  wholly  false.  That 
the  misconduct  of  Christians  brings  reproach  upon  the  gospel  and  is  a 
hindrance  to  the  progress  of  piety,  is  a standing  topic  of  lamentation, 
even  in  the  most  religious  parts  of  New  England  ; and  who  doubts  that, 
in  a certain  sense,  there  is  some  truth  in  it?  Much  more  may  we  ex- 
pect it  to  be  true  among  a people  whose  opportunities  for  improvement 
have  been  no  better  than  the  Liberians  have  enjoyed.  We  readily 
concede,  that  these  complaints  have  too  much  foundation  in  facts. 

But  who,  that  understands  Africa,  would,  on  this  account,  pronounce 
the  colony  a hindrance  to  the  progress  of  Christian  piety,  morality  and 
civilization?  It  cannot  be,  that  those  who  make  such  objections,  or 
those  who  yield  to  them,  know  what  that  part  of  the  world  was,  before 
the  influence  of  the  colony  was  felt  there.  Let  that  be  once  under- 
stood, and  the  thought  that  a colony  of  free  colored  people  from  this 
country  could  demoralize  the  natives,  or  render  the  work  of  missions 
among  them  more  difficult,  will  be  effectually  banished.  Let  us 
inquire,  then,  what  Western  Africa  was,  when  first  known  to  Euro- 
peans ; what  influences  have  since  been  operating  there  ; what  effects 
those  influences  are  known  to  have  produced  ; what  was  the  character 
of  the  country  when  the  colony  was  first  planted  ; and  what  changes 
have  resulted  from  its  existence. 

In  pursuing  this  inquiry,  we  must  gather  our  facts  from  the  whole 
coast  of  Upper  Guinea,  extending  from  the  mouth  of  the  Senegal  to 
the  Bight  of  Benin ; for,  with  partial  exceptions  among  the  Muham- 
medan  tribes  near  the  Senegal,  the  people  are  substantially  one ; the 
same  in  their  physical  character,  their  government,  their  social  condi- 
tion, their  superstitions,  manners,  and  morals  ; and  the  same  influences 


COLONIZATION  AND  MISSIONS. 


7 


Testimony  of  Arabian  Geographers,  A.  D.  902 — 968. 

have  been  at  work  among  them  all.  In  the  middle  portion,  extending 
from  Sierra  Leone  to  Elmina  and  including  Liberia,  this  identity  of 
original  character  and  modifying  influence  is  most  complete,  and 
illustrations  taken  from  any  part  of  it,  are  commonly  applicable  to  the 
whole.  The  correctness  of  these  remarks  will  be  more  manifest  as 
we  proceed. 


PART  II. 

Discovery  of  Guinea. — Rise,  Progress  and  Influence  of  the  Slave  Trade. — Preva- 
lence and  Influence  of  Piracy. — Character  of  the  Natives  before  the  influence 
of  Colonization  was  felt. 

We  shall  not  dwell  upon  the  full  length  portraits  of  negroes  on 
Egyptian  monuments  three  thousand  years  old,  because  their  interpre- 
tation might  be  disputed  ; though  their  dress,  their  attitudes,  their 
banjos,  and  every  indication  of  character,  show  that  they  were  then 
substantially  what  they  are  now.  We  shall  pass  over  Ethiopian 
slaves  in  Roman  and  Carthaginian  history  ; because  it  might  be  diffi- 
cult to  prove  that  they  came  from  the  region  under  consideration.  We 
will  begin  with  Ibn  Haukal,  the  Arabian  Geographer,  who  wrote  while 
the  Saracen  Ommiades  ruled  in  Spain,  and  before  the  founding  of 
Cairo  in  Egypt ; that  is,  between  A.  D.  902  and  968. 

Ibn  Haukal  very  correctly  describes  the  “land  of  the  blacks,”  as  an 
extensive  region,  with  the  Great  Desert  on  the  North,  the  coast  of  the 
ocean  to  the  South,  and  not  easily  accessible,  except  from  the  West ; 
and  as  inhabited  by  people  whose  skins  are  of  a finer  and  deeper 
black  than  that  of  any  other  blacks.  He  mentions  the  trade  from  the 
land  of  the  blacks,  through  the  Western  part  of  the  Great  Desert,  to 
Northern  Africa,  in  gold  and  slaves ; which  found  their  way  thence  to 
other  Muhamraedan  regions.  “ The  white  slaves,”  he  says,  “ come 
from  Andalus,”  [Spain]  “and  damsels  of  great  value,  such  as  are  sold 
for  a thousand  dinars,  or  more.”* 


*This  expression  must  not  betaken  too  strictly.  Sicily  also  furnished  many  Christian 
slaves,  and  others  were  obtained  from  other  parts  of  Europe.  Since  the  expulsion  of  the 
Moors  from  Spain,  the  Muhammedans  of  Northern  Africa  have  been  able  to  obtain  but  few 
Christian  slaves,  except  by  piracy.  They  however  continued  to  do  what  they  could.  Their 
corsairs,  principally  from  Algiers  on  the  Barbary  coast  and  Salee  on  the  YVestern  coast  of 
Morocco,  seized  the  vessels  and  enslaved  the  crews  of  all  Christian  nations  trading  in  those 
seas.  To  avoid  it,  nearly,  if  not  quite,  all  the  maritime  nations  of  Christendom  paid  them 
an  annual  tribute.  The  United  States,  we  believe,  was  the  first  nation  that  refused  to  pay 
this  tribute  ; and  this  refusal  led  to  wars  with  Tripoli,  Tunis  and  Algiers.  Several  European 
powers  have  since  followed  our  example.  In  1 8 15,  the  Emperor  of  Morocco  stipulated  by 
treaty,  that  British  subjects  should  no  longer  be  made  slaves  in  his  dominions.  Several  of 
the  southern  powers  of  Europe  still  pay  this  tribute;  and  while  we  have  been  preparing 
these  pages  (or  the  press,  negotiations  have  been  going  on  with  Morocco,  for  releasing  one 
or  two  ol  the  northern  powers  from  its  payment.  At  this  day,  the  Turks  and  Persians  obtain 
“ black  slaves  ” from  tne  interior  of  Africa,  by  the  way  of  Nubia  and  Egypt,  and  by  sea  from 
Zeila  and  Berbera,  near  the  outlet  of  the  Red  Sea,  and  from  the  Zanzibar  coast.  Accord- 
ing to  Sir  T.  F.  Buxton,  this  branch  of  the  slave  trade  consumes  100,000  victims  annually, 
half  of  whom  live  to  become  serviceable.  White  slaves,  mostly  “ damsels  of  great  value,” 
they  procure  from  Circassia  and  other  regions  around  Mount  Caucasus. 


8 


COLONIZATION  AND  MISSIONS. 


1346 — 1415. — French  Pretensions. — Portuguese  Discoveries. — Pope’s  Bull. 

Ibn  Batuta,  of  Tangier,  after  returning  from  his  travels  in  the  east, 
visited  Tombuctoo  and  other  Muhammedan  places  on  the  northern 
border  of  the  negro  country  in  1352.  The  pagans  beyond  them  en- 
slaved each  other,  sold  each  other  to  the  Muhammedans,  or  were  en- 
slaved by  them,  as  has  been  done  ever  since.  Some  of  them,  he 
learned,  were  cannibals  ; and  when  one  of  the  petty  monarchs  sent  an 
embassy  to  another,  a fatted  slave,  ready  to  be  killed  and  eaten,  was  a 
most  acceptable  present. 

Of  Christian  nations,  the  French  claim  the  honor  of  first  discover- 
ing the  coast  of  Guinea.  It  is  said  that  the  records  of  Dieppe,  in 
Normandy,  show  an  agreement  of  certain  merchants  of  that  place  and 
Rouen,  in  the  year  1365,  to  trade  to  that  coast.  Some  place  the  com- 
mencement of  that  trade  as  early  as  1346.  Having  traded  along  the 
Grain  Coast,  and  made  establishments  at  Grand  Sesters  and  other 
places,  they  doubled  Cape  Palmas,  explored  the  coast  as  far  as  Elmina, 
and  commenced  a fortress  there  in  13S3.  In  1387,  Elmina  was  en- 
larged, and  a chapel  built.  The  civil  wars  about  the  close  of  that 
century  were  injurious  to  commerce.  In  1413,  the  company  found 
its  stock  diminishing,  and  gradually  abandoned  the  trade,  till  only 
their  establishment  on  the  Senegal  was  left.  There  are  some  circum- 
stances which  give  plausibility  to  this  account ; yet  it  is  doubted  by 
some  writers,  even  in  France,  and  generally  disbelieved  or  neglected 
by  others. 

The  account  of  the  discovery  by  the  Portuguese  is  more  authentic  ; 
and  its  origin  must  be  narrated  with  some  particularity. 

During  the  centuries  of  war  between  the  Christians  of  Spain  and 
their  Moorish  invaders  and  oppressors,  an  order  of  knights  was  insti- 
tuted, called  “ The  Order  of  Christ.”  Its  object  was,  to  maintain 
the  war  against  the  Moors,  and  also  “ to  conquer  and  convert  all  who 
denied  the  truth  of  their  holy  religion.”  To  this,  the  knights  were 
consecrated  by  a solemn  vow.  Henry  of  Loraine  was  rewarded  for  his 
services  in  these  wars  with  the  gift  of  Portugal,  and  of  whatever  else  he 
should  take  from  the  Moors.  Under  his  descendants,  Portugal  be- 
came a kingdom ; and  John  I.,  having  expelled  or  slaughtered  the  last 
of  the  Moors  in  his  dominions,  passed  into  Africa  and  took  Ceuta  in 
1415.  He  was  attended  in  this  expedition  by  his  son,  Henry,  Duke 
ofViseo,  and  Grand  Master  of  the  Order  of  Christ.  Henry  distin- 
guished himself  during  the  siege;  remained  sometime  in  Africa  to 
carry  on  the  war,  and  learned  that  beyond  the  Great  Desert  were  the 
country  of  the  Senegal  and  the  Jaloffs.  With  the  double  design  of 
conquering  infidels  and  finding  a passage  to  India  by  sea,  having 
already  pushed  his  discoveries  to  Cape  Bojador,  he  obtained  a bull  from 
Pope  Martin  V.,  granting  to  the  Portuguese  an  exclusive  right  in  all 
the  islands  they  already  possessed,  and  also  in  all  territories  they 
might  in  future  discover,  from  Cape  Bojador  to  the  East  Indies.  The 
Pope  also  granted  a plenary  indulgence  to  the  souls  of  all  who  might 
perish  in  the  enterprise,  and  in  recovering  the  nations  of  those  regions 
to  Christ  and  his  church.  And  certainly,  few  indulgences  have  been 
granted  to  souls  that  had  more  need  of  them. 

The  Portuguese  laity  were  at  first  averse  to  an  enterprise  which 
appeared  rash  and  useless ; but  the  clergy  rose  up  in  its  favor,  and  bore 


COLONIZATION  AND  MISSIONS. 


9 


1430 — 1445. — Portuguese  Discoveries. — Commencement  of  the  Slave  Trade. 

down  all  opposition.  Ships  were  fitted  out,  and  after  some  failures, 
Gilianez  doubled  Cape  Bojador  in  1432.  In  1434,  Alonzo  Gonzales 
explored  the  coast  for  thirty  leagues  beyond.  In  1435,  he  sailed  along 
twenty-four  leagues  further.  In  an  attempt  to  seize  a party  of  natives, 
some  were  wounded  on  both  sides.  In  1440,  Antonio  Gonzales  made 
the  same  voyage,  seized  about  ten  of  the  natives,  all  Moors,  and  brought 
them  away.*  Nunno  Tristan  discovered  Cape  Blanco.  In  1442, 
Antonio  Gonzales  returned  to  the  coast,  and  released  one  of  the  Moors 
formerly  carried  away,  on  his  promise  to  pay  seven  Guinea  slaves  for 
his  ransom.  The  promise  was  not  fulfilled  ; but  two  other  Moors  ran- 
somed themselves  for  several  blacks  of  different  countries  and  some 
gold  dust.  The  place  was  hence  called  Rio  del  Oro,  (Gold  River,) 
and  is  nearly  under  the  Tropic  of  Cancer.  In  1443,  Nunno  Tristan 
discovered  Arguin,  and  caught  14  blacks.  In  1444,  Gilianez  and 
others,  in  six  caravels,  seized  195  blacks,  most  of  whom  were  Moors, 
near  Arguin,  and  were  well  rewarded  by  their  prince.  In  1445,  Gon- 
zales de  Cintra,  with  seven  of  his  men,  were  killed  14  leagues  beyond 
Rio  del  Oro,  by  200  Moors.  In  1446,  Antonio  Gonzales  was  sent  to 
treat  with  the  Moors  at  Rio  del  Oro,  concerning  peace,  commerce, 
and  their  conversion  to  Christianity.  They  refused  to  treat.  Nunno 
Tristan  brought  away  20  slaves.  Denis  Fernandez  passed  by  the 
Senegal,  took  four  blacks  in  a fishing  boat,  and  discovered  Cape 
Verde.  In  1447,  Antonio  Gonzales  took  25  Moors  near  Arguin,  and 
took  55  and  killed  others  at  Cape  Blanco.  Da  Gram  took  54  at  Ar- 
guin, ran  eight  leagues  further  and  took  50  more,  losing  seven  men. 
Lancelot  and  others,  at  various  places,  killed  many  and  took  about 
ISO,  of  whom  20,  being  allies  treacherously  seized,  were  afterwards 
sent  back.  Nunno  Tristan  entered  the  Rio  Grande,  where  he  and  all 
his  men  but  four  were  killed  by  poisoned  arrows.  Alvaro  Fernandez, 
40  leagues  beyond,  had  two  battles  with  the  natives,  in  one  of  which 
he  was  wounded.  Gilianez  and  others  were  defeated  with  the  loss  of 
five  men  at  Cape  Verde,  made  48  slaves  at  Arguin,  and  took  two 
women  and  killed  seven  natives  at  Palma.  Gomez  Perez,  being  dis- 
appointed in  the  ransom  of  certain  Moors  at  Rio  del  Oro,  brought 
away  80  slaves. 

Thus  far  from  Portuguese  historians.  Next,  let  us  hear  the  accounts 
which  voyagers  give  of  their  own  doings  and  discoveries.  The  oldest 
whose  works  are  extant,  and  one  of  the  most  intelligent  and  trustworthy, 
is  Aluise  de  Cada  Mosto,  a Venetian  in  the  service  of  Portugal. 

Cada  Mosto  sailed  in  1455.  He  found  the  people  around  Cape 
Blanco  and  Arguin,  Muhammedans.  He  calls  them  Arabs.  They 
traded  with  Barbary,  Tombucto  and  the  negroes.  They  get  from  ten 
to  eighteen  negroes  for  a Barbary  horse.  From  700  to  800  annually 
are  brought  to  Arguin  and  sold  to  the  Portuguese.  Formerly,  the  Por- 
guese  used  to  land  by  night,  surprise  fishing  villages  and  country  places, 
and  carry  off  Arabs.  They  had  also  seized  some  of  the  Azenaghi, 
who  are  a tawny  race,  north  of  Senegal,  and  who  make  better  slaves 
than  the  negroes  ; but,  as  they  are  not  confirmed  Muhammedans,  Don 


* The  common  staiemont,  that  the  first  slaves  were  brought  home  by  Alonzo  Gonzales,  in 
1434,  appears  to  be  an  error. 

2 


10 


COLONIZATION  AND  MISSIONS. 


]455 — 1481. — Discovery  of  Cape  Mesurado. 


Henry  had  hopes  of  their  conversion,  and  had  made  peace  with  them. 
South  of  the  Senegal  are  the  Jaloffs,  who  are  savages,  and  extremely 
poor.  Their  king  lives  by  robbery,  and  by  forcing  his  subjects  and 
others  into  slavery.  He  sells  slaves  to  the  Azenaghi,  Arabs  and 
Christians.  Both  sexes  are  very  lascivious,  and  they  are  exceedingly 
addicted  to  sorcery.  A little  south  of  Cape  Verde,  he  found  negroes 
who  would  suffer  no  chief  to  exist  among  them,  lest  their  wives  and 
children  should  be  taken  and  sold  for  slaves,  “ as  they  are  in  all  other 
negro  countries,  that  have  kings  and  lords.”  They  use  poisoned 
arrows,  “ are  great  idolaters,  without  any  law,  and  extremely  cruel.” 
Further  on,  he  sent  on  shore  a baptized  negro  as  an  interpreter,  who 
was  immediately  put  to  death.  He  entered  the  Gambia,  and  was 
attacked  by  the  natives  in  15  canoes.  After  a battle,  in  which  one 
negro  was  killed,  they  consented  to  a parley.  They  told  him  they  had 
heard  of  the  dealings  of  white  men  on  the  Senegal  ; knew  that  they 
bought  negroes  only  to  eat ; would  have  no  trade  with  them,  but  would 
kill  them  and  give  their  goods  to  their  king.  He  left  the  river  and  re- 
turned. The  next  year  he  entered  the  Gambia  again,  and  went  up 
about  40  miles.  He  staid  eleven  days,  made  a treaty  with  Battimansa, 
bought  some  slaves  of  him,  and  left  the  river  because  the  fever  had 
seized  his  crew.  He  found  some  Muhammedan  traders  there  ; but  the 
people  were  idolaters,  and  great  believers  in  sorcery.  They  never  go 
far  from  home  by  water,  for  fear  of  being  seized  as  slaves.  He 
coasted  along  to  the  Kasamansa  and  Rio  Grande  ; but  finding  the 
language  such  as  none  of  his  interpreters  could  understand,  returned 
to  Portugal. 

In  1461,  the  Portuguese  began  to  take  permanent  possession,  by 
erecting  a fort  at  Arguin. 

In  1462,  Piedro  de  Cintra  discovered  Sierra  Leone,  Gallinas  river, 
which  he  called  Rio  del  Fumi,  because  he  saw  nothing  but  smoke 
there, — Cape  Mount,  and  Cape  Mesurado,  where  he  saw  many  fires 
among  the  trees,  made  by  the  negroes  who  had  sight  of  the  ships,  and 
had  never  seen  such  things  before.  Sixteen  miles  farther  along  the 
coast,  a few  natives  came  off  in  canoes,  two  or  three  in  each.  They 
were  all  naked,  had  some  wooden  darts  and  small  knives,  two  targets 
and  three  bows  ; had  rings  about  their  ears  and  one  in  the  nose,  and 
teeth  strung  about  their  necks,  which  seemed  to  be  human.  Such  is 
our  earliest  notice  of  what  is  now  Liberia.  The  teeth  were  those  of 
slaughtered  enemies,  worn  as  trophies.  The  account  of  this  voyage 
was  written  by  Cada  Mosto. 

In  1463,  Don  Henry  died,  and  the  Guinea  trade,  which  had  been 
his  property,  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  king.  Pie  farmed  it,  for  five 
years,  to  Fernando  Gomez,  for  500  ducats,  and  an  obligation  to  explore 
500  additional  leagues  of  coast.  In  1471,  Juan  de  Santerem  and 
Pedro  de  Escobar  explored  the  Gold  Coast,  and  discovered  Rio  del  Oro 
del  Mina;  that  is,  Gold  Mine  River,  which  afterwards  gave  name  to 
the  fortress  of  Elmina. 

In  1481,  two  Englishmen,  John  Tintam  and  William  Fabian,  began 
to  fit  out  an  expedition  to  Guinea;  but  John  II.  of  Portugal  sent  two 
ambassadors  to  England,  to  insist  on  his  own  exclusive  claims  to  that 
country,  and  the  voyage  was  given  up. 


COLONIZATION  AND  MISSIONS. 


11 


Mission  to  Elmina. — Bull  of  Demarcation. — 1481 — 1492. 


The  same  year,  the  king  of  Portugal  sent  ten  ships,  with  500  sol- 
diers and  100,  or  as  some  say,  200  laborers,  and  a proper  compliment 
of  priests  as  missionaries,  to  Elmina.  They  arrived,  and  on  the  19th 
of  January,  landed,  and  celebrated  the  first  mass  in  Guinea.  Prayer 
was  offered  for  the  conversion  of  the  natives,  and  the  perpetuity  of  the 
church  about  to  be  founded. 

In  1484,  John  II.  invited  the  powers  of  Europe  to  share  with  him 
the  expense  of  these  discoveries,,  and  of  “ making  conquests  on  the 
infidels,”  which  tended  to  the  common  benefit  of  all ; but  they  de- 
clined. He  then  obtained  from  the  Pope  a bull,  confirming  the  former 
grant  to  Portugal,  of  all  the  lands  they  should  discover  from  Cape 
Bojador  to  India,  forbidding  other  nations  to  attempt  discoveries  in 
those  parts  of  the  world,  and  decreeing  that  if  they  should  make  any, 
the  regions  so  discovered  should  belong  to  Portugal.  From  this  time, 
the  king  of  Portugal,  in  addition  to  his  other  titles,  styled  himself 
“ Lord  of  Guinea.” 

The  same  year,  Diego  Cam  passed  the  Bight  of  Benin,  discovered 
Congo,  and  explored  the  coast  to  the  twenty  second  degree  of  south 
latitude.  In  a few  years,  a treaty  was  made  with  the  king  of  Congo, 
for  the  conversion  of  himself  and  his  kingdom.  The  king  and  several 
of  the  royal  family  were  baptized  ; but  on  learning  that  they  must 
abandon  polygamy,  nearly  all  renounced  their  baptism.  This  led  to 
a war,  which  ended  in  their  submission  to  Rome. 

About  the  same  time,  the  king  of  Benin  applied  for  missionaries, 
hoping  thereby  to  draw  Portuguese  trade  to  his  dominions.  “ But 
they  being  sent,  the  design  was  discovered  not  to  be  religion,  but 
covetousness.  For  these  heathens  bought  christened  slaves;  and  the 
Portuguese,  with  the  same  avarice,  sold  them  after  being  baptized, 
knowing  that  their  new  masters  would  oblige  them  to  return  to  their 
old  idolatry.  This  scandalous  commerce  subsisted  till  the  religious 
king  John  III.  forbade  it,  though  to  his  great  loss.”  Such  was  the 
character  of  the  Portuguese  in  Guinea. 

And  here,  for  the  sake  of  placing  these  events  in  their  true  connec- 
tion with  the  history  of  the  world,  it  may  be  well  to  state,  that  in  1485, 
Bartholomew  Diaz  doubled  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope;  and  in  1492, 
Columbus  made  his  first  voyage  to  America.  In  149:1,  May  2,  Pope 
Alexander,  “out  of  his  pure  liberality,  infallible  know  edge  and  apos- 
tolic power,”  granted  to  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  of  Spain,  all  countries 
inhabited  by  infidels,  which  they  had  discovered  or  might  discover,  on 
condition  of  their  planting  and  propagating  there  the  Christian  faith. 
Another  bull,  issued  the  next  day,  decreed  that  a line  drawn  100 
leagues  west  of  the  Azores,  and  extending  from  pole  to  pole,  should 
divide  the  claims  of  Spain  from  those  of  Portugal  ; and  in  June,  1494, 
another  bull  removed  this  line  of  demarcation  to  370  leagues  west  of 
the  Cape  Verde  Islands.  In  1492,  Vasco  de  Gama  succeeded  in 
reaching  India  by  way  of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope.  Thenceforth,  the 
more  splendid  atrocities  of  the  East  and  West  Indies  threw  those  on 
the  coast  of  Guinea  into  the  shade,  and  historians  have  recorded  them 
with  less  minuteness;  so  that,  from  this  time,  we  are  unable  to  give 
names  and  dates  with  the  same  precision  as  heretofore.  We  know. 


12 


COLONIZATION  AND  MISSIONS. 


1492 — 1515. — Prince  Bemoi. — Portuguese  Settlements  and  Character. 


however,  that  they  continued  to  extend  their  intercourse  with  the 
natives,  and  their  possessions  along  the  coast. 

It  was  some  time  previous  to  1520,  that  one  Bemoi  came  to  Portu- 
gal, representing  himself  as  the  rightful  king  of  the  Jaloffs,  and  re- 
questing aid  against  his  rivals.  To  obtain  it,  he  submitted  to  baptism, 
with  twenty-four  of  his  followers,  and  agreed  to  hold  his  kingdom  as  a 
feoff  of  Portugal.  Pedro  Vaz  de  Cunna  was  sent  out,  with  twenty 
caravels  well  manned  and  armed,  to  assist  him,  and  to  build  a fort  at 
the  mouth  of  the  Senegal.  The  fort  was  commenced  ; but  Pedro 
found  some  pretext  for  quarrelling  with  Bemoi,  and  stabbed  him  to  the 
heart.  Intercourse,  however,  was  soon  established  extensively  with 
the  Jaloffs,  the  Foulahs,  and  other  races  in  that  region  ; of  whom  the 
Portuguese,  settling  in  great  numbers  among  them,  became  the  virtual 
lords.  We  find  them  subsequently  in  possession  of  forts  or  trading 
houses,  or  living  as  colonists,  at  the  Rio  Grande,  Sierra  Leone,  proba- 
bly at  Gallinas,  Cape  Mount  and  Cape  Mesurado,  certainly  at  the 
Junk,  Sestos  and  Sangwin  on  the  coast  of  Liberia,  at  Cape  Three 
Points,  Axim,  Elmina,  and  numerous  other  places  on  the  Ivory,  Gold 
and  Slave  Coasts.  So  universally  predominant  was  their  influence, 
that  in  the  course  of  the  sixteenth  century,  the  Portuguese  became 
the  common  language  of  business,  and  was  everywhere  generally  un- 
derstood by  such  natives  as  had  intercourse  with  foreigners.  A few 
Portuguese  words,  such  as  “ palaver,”  “ fetish,”  and  perhaps  some 
others,  remain  in  current  use  among  the  natives  to  this  day. 

Of  the  character  of  the  Portuguese  on  the  coast,  some  judgment 
may  be  formed  from  what  has  already  been  stated.  It  seems  rapidly 
to  have  grown  worse  and  worse.  It  was  a place  of  banishment  for 
criminals,  convicted  of  various  outrages,  violence  and  robbery ; a 
place  where  fugitives  from  justice  sought  and  found  a refuge ; a 
place  where  adventurers  who  hated  the  restraints  of  law,  sought  free- 
dom and  impunity.  “ No  wonder,  therefore,”  says  a writer  who  had 
been  at  Elmina,  “ that  the  histories  of  those  times  give  an  account  of 
unparalleled  violence  and  inhumanities  perpetrated  at  the  place  by  the 
Portuguese,  whilst  under  their  subjection,  not  only  against  the  natives 
and  such  Europeans  as  resorted  thither,  but  even  amongst  themselves.” 
Bad  as  the  native  character  originally  was,  Portuguese  influence  rapidly 
added  to  its  atrocity.  A series  of  wars,  which  commenced  among 
them  about  this  time,  illustrates  the  character  of  both. 

In  1515,  or  as  some  say,  in  1505,  the  Cumbas  from  the  interior, 
began  to  make  plundering  incursions  upon  the  Capez,  about  Sierra 
Leone.  The  Cumbas  were  doubtless  a branch  of  the  Giagas,  another 
division  of  whom  emigrated,  twenty  or  thirty  years  later,  to  the  upper 
region  on  the  Congo  river,  and  there  founded  the  kingdom  of  Ansiko, 
otherwise  called  Makoko,  whose  king  ruled  over  thirteen  kingdoms. 
“ Their  food,”  says  Rees’  Cyclopedia,  Art.  Ansiko,  “ is  said  to  be  hu- 
man flesh,  and  human  bodies  are  hung  up  for  sale  in  their  shambles. 
Conceiving  that  they  have  an  absolute  right  to  dispose  of  their  slaves 
at  pleasure,  their  prisoners  of  war  are  fattened,  killed  and  eaten,  or 
sold  to  butchers.”  Specimens  of  this  cannibal  race,  from  near  the 
same  region,  have  shown  themselves  within  a very  few  years.  The 
Cumbas,  on  invading  the  Capez,  were  pleased  with  the  country,  and 


COLONIZATION  AND  MISSIONS. 


13 


The  Cumbas  and  Giagas. — 1493 — 1515. 

resolved  to  settle  there.  They  took  possession  of  the  most  fertile 
spots,  and  cleared  them  of  their  inhabitants,  by  killing  and  eating 
some,  and  selling  others  to  the  Portuguese,  who  stood  ready  to  buy 
them.  In  1678,  that  is,  163  years  or  more  from  its  commencement, 
this  war  was  still  going  on.* 


♦These  Giagas  form  one  of  the  most  horribly  interesting  subjects  for  investigation,  in  all 
history.  In  Western  Africa,  they  extended  their  ravages  as  far  south  as  Benguela.  Their 
career  in  that  direction  seems  to  have  been  arrested  by  the  great  desert,  sparsely  peopled  by 
the  Damaras  and  Namaquas.  extending  from  Benguela  to  the  Orange  River,  and  presenting 
nothing  to  plunder.  In  1586.  the  missionary  Santos  found  them  at  war  with  the  Portuguese 
settlements  on  the  Zambeze.  He  describes  their  ravages,  but  without  giving  dates,  along  ihe 
eastern  coast  for  a thousand  miles  northward  to  Melinda,  where  they  were  repulsed  by  the 
Portuguese.  Autonio  Fernandez,  writing  from  Abyssinia  in  1609,  mentions  an  irruption  of 
the  Galae,  who  are  said  to  be  the  same  people,  though  some  dispute  their  identity.  These 
Galae,  “ a savage  nation,  begotten  of  devils,  as  the  vulgar  report,”  he  informs  us,  issued 
from  their  forests  and  commenced  their  ravages  a hundred  years  before  Ihe  dale  of  his  letter; 
that  is,  about  the  time  of  the  invasion  of  Sierra  Leone  by  the  Cumbas.  We  find  no  express 
mention  of  their  cannibalism  ; but  in  other  respects  they  seem  closely  to  resemble  the  Giagas. 
Thus  we  find  them,  from  the  commencement  of  the  sixteenth  century  far  into  the  seventeenth, 
ravaging  the  continent  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Indian  Ocean,  and  through  thirty  degrees  of 
latitude.  As  to  their  original  location,  accounts  differ.  Some  place  it  back  of  the  northern 
part  of  Liberia.  This  was  evidently  one  region  from  which  they  emigrated.  Their  migra- 
tions hence  to  Sierra  Leone  on  the  north  and  Congo  and  Benguela  on  the  south,  are  recorded 
facts.  Here,  under  the  name  of  Mani,  Manez,  or  Monou,  though  comparatively  few  in  num- 
bers, they  exercised  a supremacy  over  and  received  tribute  from  the  Quojas,  the  Folgias,  and 
all  the  maritime  tribes  from  Sierra  Leone  almost  to  Cape  Palmas.  East  of  Cape  Palmas, 
their  cannibalism  and  general  ferocity  marked  the  character  of  the  people  quite  down  to  the 
coast,  especially  along  what  was  called  the  Malegentes  (Bad  People)  and  Qauqua  coasts.  The 
testimony  is  conclusive,  that  the  Cumbas  who  invaded  Sierra  Leone  and  the  Giagas  of  Ansiko 
and  Benguela  were  from  this  region.  According  to  other  accounts,  their  origin  was  in  the 
region  on  the  eastern  slope  of  the  continent,  from  the  upper  waters  of  the  Nile  and  the  bor- 
ders of  Abyssinia,  extending  southward  across  the  equator.  In  most  regions,  they  appeared 
merely  as  roving  banditti,  remaining  in  a country  only  long  enough  to  reduce  it  to  desolation. 
Every  where  the  Giagas  themselves  were  few,  but  had  numerous  followers,  who  were  of  the 
same  ferocious  character.  Every  where,  except  perhaps  among  the  Galae,  they  had  the 
same  practice  of  making  scars  on  their  faces  by  way  of  ornament.  Every  where  they  practiced 
the  same  cannibalism.  On  taking  the  city  of  Quiloa,  a little  south  of  Zanzibar,  they  butcher- 
ed “ three  thousand  Moors,  for  future  dainties,  to  eat  at  leisure.”  Every  where  their  religion 
was  substantially  the  same,  consisting  mainly  in  worshipping  the  devil  when  about  to  com- 
mence an  expedition.  They  had  various  names,  some  of  which  have  been  already  men- 
tioned. In  the  east,  they  were  also  called  Mumbos,  Zimbas,  and  Muzimbas.  In  the  same  re- 
gion, and  the  vicinity  of  Congo,  they  were  also  called  Jngges,  Gagas.  Giachi,  and  it  was  said, 
called  themselves  Agags.  Compare  also,  of  terms  still  in  use,  the  Gallas,  a savage  people 
on  the  south  of  Abyssinia,  who  are  doubtless  the  Galae  of  Fernandez;  the  Golahs,  formerly 
written  Galas,  north  east  of  Monrovia,  in  the  Monou  region,  of  whose  connection  with  the 
Giagas,  however,  there  appears  to  be  no  other  evidence;  and  the  Mumbo  Jumbo,  or  fic- 
titious devil,  wilh  whom  the  priests  overawe  the  superstitious  in  the  whole  region  south  of 
the  Gambia.  Their  followers,  in  eastern  Africa,  were  called  Caffres ; but  perhaps  the  word 
was  used  in  its  original  Arabic  sense,  as  meaning  infidels.  Near  the  Congo,  their  followers 
were  called  Ansikos,  and  their  principal  chief,  “ the  great  Makoko,”  which  some  have  mis- 
taken for  a national  designation.  Here,  also,  Imbe  was  a title  of  office  among  them,  while 
in  the  east  it  was  applied  to  the  whole  people.  In  Angola  th“y  were  called  Gindae.  Whether 
any  traces  of  them  still  remain  in  Eastern  Africa,  or  around  Congo  and  Benguela,  we  are 
too  ignorant  of  those  regions  to  decide.  In  the  region  of  Liberia,  there  can  be  no  doubt  on 
the  subject.  American  missionaries  at  Cape  Palmas  have  seen  and  conversed  with  men 
from  the  interior,  who  avow  without  hesitation  their  fondness  for  human  flesh,  and  their 
habit  of  eating  it.  On  the  Cavally  river,  the  eastern  boundary  of  Cape  Palmas,  the  cannibal 
region  begins  some  twenty,  thirty  or  forty  miles  from  the  coast,  and  extends  northward,  in 
the  rear  of  Liberia,  indefinitely.  Farther  east,  it  approaches  and  perhaps  reaches  the  roast. 
In  this  region,  prisoners  of  war  and  sometimes  slaves  are  still  slain  for  food.  Here,  too, 
slaves  are  sacrificed  at  the  ratification  of  a treaty,  and  trees  are  planted  to  mark  the  spot  and 
serve  as  records  of  the  fact.  Such  trees  have  been  pointed  out  to  our  missionaries,  by  men 
who  were  present  when  they  were  planted.  Compare,  too,  the  human  sacrifices  of  Ashanlee 
and  Dahomey,  and  the  devil-worship  of  all  Western  Africa. — But  after  all,  were  the  Giagas 
one  race  of  men,  as  cotemporary  historians  supposed  ? Or  were  they  men  of  a certain 
character,  then  predominant  through  nearly  all  Africa  south  of  the  Great  Desert  1 


14 


COLOZI  NATION  AND  MISSIONS. 


1503 — 1592. — Tlie  Spanish,  English,  French  and  Dutch. 


The  trade  in  slaves  received  a new  impulse  about  this  time,  from  the 
demand  for  them  in  the  Spanish  West  Indies.  They  had  been  intro- 
duced into  those  colonies,  at  least  as  early  as  1503;  and  the  trade  was 
encouraged  by  edicts,  of  Ferdinand  V.  in  1511,  and  of  Charles  V.  in 
1515.  At  the  close  of  the  century,  this  trade  was  immense.  Portu- 
guese residents  bought  the  slaves  of  the  natives,  or  procured  them 
otherwise,  and  sold  them  to  Spanish  traders,  who  carried  them  to  the 
West  Indies. 

The  Protestants  of  England  and  Holland  felt  little  respect  for  the 
Pope’s  grant  of  all  Western  Africa  to  Portugal;  and  even  the  French 
soon  learned  to  disregard  it. 

The  English  took  the  lead.  In  1551,  and  again  in  1552,  Thomas 
Windham  visited  the  coast  of  Morocco.  The  Portuguese  threatened 
him,  that  if  found  again  in  those  seas,  he  and  his  crew  should  be 
treated  as  “ mortal  enemies.”  Nothing  daunted  by  these  threats,  he 
sailed  again  the  next  year.  He  took  a Portuguese  partner  as  a guide, 
and  visited  the  whole  coast  from  the  river  Sestos  to  Benin.  In  1554, 
Capt.  John  Lok,  with  three  ships,  reached  the  coast  at  Cape  Mesurado, 
sailed  along  it  nearly  or  quite  to  Benin,  and  brought  home  “certain 
black  slaves,”  the  first,  so  far  as  appears,  ever  brought  to  England. 
From  this  time,  voyages  appear  to  have  been  made  annually,  and  some- 
times several  in  a year,  always  in  armed  ships,  and  attended  with 
more  or  less  fighting  with  the  Portuguese,  the  natives,  or  both.  In 
1564,  David  Carlet  attempted  to  trade  with  the  negroes  near  Elmina. 
The  negroes,  hired  and  instructed  by  the  Portuguese,  first  secured 
their  confidence,  and  then  betrayed  Carlet,  a merchant  who  accompa- 
nied him,  and  twelve  of  his  crew,  to  the  Portuguese,  as  prisoners. 
This  mode  of  employing  the  negroes  now  became  a common  practice. 
In  1590,  “ about  42”  Englishmen  were  taken  or  slain  and  their  goods 
seized  by  the  Portuguese  and  negroes  combined  at  Portudal  and  Joal, 
on  the  coast  of  the  JalofTs.  Captains  Rainolds  and  Dassel,  who  were 
there  the  next  year,  detected  a similar  conspiracy  against  themselves, 
said  by  the  chief  conspirator  to  be  authorized  by  the  king  of  Portugal. 
In  1588,  the  African  Company  was  incorporated. 

The  French,  we  have  seen,  profess  to  have  been  the  first  traders  to 
the  coast  of  Guinea,  and  to  have  always  retained  their  post  .at  the 
Senegal.  Rainolds  found  in  1591 , that  they  had  been  there  more  than 
thirty  years,  and  were  in  good  repute.  The  Spaniards,  on  the  con- 
trary, were  detested ; and  as  for  the  Portuguese,  “ most  of  them  were 
banished  men,  or  fugitives  from  justice;  men  of  the  basest  behavior 
that  he  and  the  rest  of  the  English  had  ever  seen  of  these  nations.” 

In  1578,  the  French  were  trading  at  Accra,  on  the  Gold  Coast. 
The  negroes  in  the  vicinity,  at  the  instigation  of  the  Portuguese, 
destroyed  the  town.  There  was  then  a standing  offer,  from  the  Portu- 
guese to  the  negroes,  of  100  crowns  for  a Frenchman’s  head.  In 
1582,  the  Portuguese  sunk  a French  ship,  and  made  slaves  of  all  the 
crew  who  escaped  a watery  grave. 

There  is  no  account  of  the  Dutch  on  this  coast,  till  the  voyage  of 
Barent  Erickson  in  1595.  The  Portuguese  offered  to  reward  the  ne- 
groes, if  they  would  kill  or  betray  him.  They  also  offered  a reward  of 
100  florins  for  the  destruction  of  a Dutch  ship.  About  the  same  time, 


COLONIZATION  AND  MISSIONS. 


15 


The  Portuguese  driven  from  the  Coast.— Dutch  Interlopers. — 1599 — 1693. 

a Dutch  crew,  with  the  exception  of  one  or  two  men,  was  massacred 
at  Cape  Coast.  Of  another  crew,  three  Dutchmen  were  betrayed  by 
the  negroes  and  made  slaves  by  the  Portuguese  at  Elmina.  In  1599, 
the  negroes  near  Elmina,  at  the  instigation  of  the  Portuguese,  inveigled 
five  Dutchmen  into  their  power,  beheaded  them,  and  in  a few  hours 
made  drinking  cups  of  their  skulls. 

But  the  English  and  Dutch  continued  to  crowd  in,  and  the  Portu- 
guese, who,  after  such  atrocities,  could  not  coexist  w'ith  them  on  the 
same  coast,  were  compelled  to  retire.  In  1604,  they  were  driven  from 
all  their  factories  in  what  is  now  Liberia.  Instead  of  leaving  the 
country,  however,  they  retreated  inland,  established  themselves  there, 
intermarried  with  the  natives,  and  engaged  in  commerce  between  the 
more  inland  tribes  and  the  traders  on  the  coast;  making  it  a special 
object  to  prevent  the  produce  of  the  interior  from  reaching  the  coast, 
except  through  their  hands  ; and  for  this  purpose  they  obstructed  all 
efforts  of  others  to  explore  the  country.  They  traded  with  the  people 
on  the  Niger;  and  one  of  their  mulatto  descendants  told  Villault,  in 
1666,  that  they  traded  along  that  river  as  far  as  Benin.*  Their  pos- 
terity gradually  became  merged  and  lost  among  the  negro  population  ; 
but  the  obstruction  of  intercourse  with  the  interior  became  the  settled 
policy  of  those  tribes,  and  has  done  much  to  retard  the  growth  of  com- 
merce in  Liberia. 

In  other  parts  the  Portuguese  held  possession  some  years  longer. 
But  the  Dutch  took  their  fort  at  Elmina  in  1637,  and  that  at  Axim  in 
1642;  after  w'hich  they  were  soon  expelled  from  the  Gold  and  Ivory 
Coasts.  Before  1666,  they  had  given  place  to  the  Dutch  at  Cape 
Mount,  and  to  the  English  at  Sierra  Leone.  In  1621,  the  English 
were  trading  in  the  Gambia,  and  in  1664,  built  James  Fort  near  its 
mouth.  Here  also  the  Portuguese  retired  inland  and  mingled  w'ith  the 
natives.  Not  many  years  since,  some  of  their  descendants  were  still 
to  be  found. 

The  influence  of  the  English,  Dutch  and  French  on  the  character 
of  the  natives,  was  in  some  respects  different  from  that  of  the  Portu- 
guese ; but  whether  it  was  on  the  whole  any  better,  is  a question  of 
some  difficulty.  Portuguese  writers  assert  that  the  Dutch  gained  the 
favor  of  the  negroes  by  teaching  them  drunkenness  and  other  vices; 
that  they  became  absolute  pirates,  and  seized  and  held  several  places 
on  the  coast,  to  which  they  had  no  right  but  that  of  the  strongest. 

The  Dutch  trade  was,  by  law,  exclusively  in  the  hands  of  an  incor- 
porated company,  having  authority  to  seize  and  confiscate  to  its  own 
use,  the  vessels  and  cargoes  of  private  traders  found  on  the  coast. 
These  private  traders,  or  interlopers,  as  they  were  called,  were  fre- 
quently seized  by  stratagem  by  the  Dutch  garrisons  on  the  coast,  and 
treated  with  great  severity.  But  they  provided  themselves  with  fast 
sailing  ships,  went  well  armed  and  manned,  and  generally  fought  to  the 
last  man,  rather  than  be  taken  by  the  Company’s  forces.  Capt.  Phillips, 
in  1693,  found  more  than  a dozen  of  these  interlopers  on  the  coast, 


* As  ihe  Niger  was  then  supposed  by  Europeans  to  flow  westward  and  disembogue  itself 
by  the  Senegal  or  Gambia,  this  statement  was  considered  absurd;  but  since  the  discovery  of 
the  mouth  of  the  Niger  in  Benin,  there  is  reason  to  suppose  it  true.  It  ought  to  have  led  to 
an  earlier  discovery  of  the  true  course  and  outlet  of  that  long  mysterious  river. 


16 


COLONIZATION  AND  MISSIONS. 

1600—1721. — English  at  Sierra  Leone.— Prevalence  of  Piracy. 

and  had  seen  four  or  five  of  them  at  a time  lying  before  Elmina  castle 
for  a week  together,  trading,  as  it  were,  in  defiance  of  it. 

The  English  had  also  their  incorporated  company,  and  their  private 
traders.  Of  the  character  of  the  latter,  we  find  no  specification  which 
dates  in  this  century.  In  1721,  there  were  about  thirty  of  them  settled 
on  the  “ starboard  side  ” of  the  bay  of  Sierra  Leone.  Atkins  des- 
cribes them  as  “ loose,  privateering  blades,  who,  if  they  cannot  trade 
fairly  with  the  natives,  will  rob.  Of  these,”  he  says,  “ John  Leadstine, 
commonly  called  ‘ Old  Cracker,’  is  reckoned  the  most  thriving.” 
This  man,  called  Leadstone  in  Johnson’s  ‘‘History  of  the  Pirates,” 
had  been  an  old  buccanier,  and  kept  two  or  three  guns  before  his 
door,  “to  salute  his  friends  the  pirates  when  they  put  in  there.”  Such, 
substantially,  appears  to  have  been  the  character  of  the  English  “ pri- 
vate traders”  upon  this  coast  from  the  beginning.  Of  the  regular 
traders,  English  and  Dutch,  a part,  and  only  a part,  seem  to  have  been 
comparatively  decent. 

The  influence  of  the  Pirates  on  this  coast  deserves  a distinct  con- 
sideration. 

They  appeared  there  occasionally,  as  early  as  the  year  1600,  and 
seem  to  have  increased  with  the  increase  of  commerce.  For  some 
years,  the  piratically  disposed  appear  to  have  found  scope  for  the  indul- 
gence of  their  propensities  among  the  buccaniers  of  the  West  Indies. 
But  after  the  partial  breaking  up  of  the  buccaniers  in  168S,  and  still 
more  after  their  suppression  in  1697,  they  spread  themselves  over  the 
whole  extent  of  the  Atlantic  and  Indian  Oceans.  The  coast  of  Guinea 
was  one  of  their  principal  haunts,  and  Sierra  Leone  a favorite  resort. 
They  not  only  plundered  at  sea,  but  boldly  entered  any  port  where  the 
people,  whether  native  or  European,  were  not  strong  enough  to  resist 
them,  and  traded  there  on  their  own  terms.  In  1693,  Phillips  found 
that  the  governor  of  Porto  Praya  made  it  a rule  never  to  go  on  board 
any  ship  in  the  harbor,  lest  it  should  prove  to  be  a pirate,  and  he  should 
be  detained  till  he  had  furnished  a supply  of  provisions,  for  which  he 
would  be  paid  by  a bill  of  exchange  on  some  imaginary  person  in  Lon- 
don. Avery,  commonly  known  as  “Long  Ben,”  had  thus  extorted 
supplies  from  the  governor  of  St.  Thomas,  and  paid  him  by  a bill  on 
“ the  pump  at  Aldgate.”  At  Cape  Mesurado,  Phillips  found  a Scotch- 
man, of  the  crew  of  Herbert  the  pirate.  The  crew  had  quarrelled, 
all  the  rest  were  killed  or  afterwards  died  of  their  wounds,  he  ran  the 
brigantine  ashore  near  the  Cape,  and  had  since  been  living  among  the 
natives.  Capt.  Snelgrave  arrived  at  Sierra  Leone,  April  1,  1719.  He 
found  three  pirates  in  the  harbor ; Cocklyn,  Le  Bouse  and  Davis. 
They  had  lately  taken  ten  English  vessels.  His  first  mate,  Jones,  be- 
trayed him  into  their  hands.  He  had  with  him  a royal  proclamation, 
offering  pardon  to  all  English  pirates  who  should  surrender  themselves 
on  or  before  the  first  of  July.  An  old  buccanier  tore  it  in  pieces. 
They  took  Snelgrave’s  vessel  for  their  own  use,  leaving  an  inferior  one 
for  him,  and  left  the  bay  about  the  29th  of  the  month.  Afterwards, 
he  tells  us,  that  more  than  a hundred  vessels  fell  into  the  hands  of 
these  pirates  on  the  coast  of  Guinea,  and  some  of  the  gang  did  im- 
mense damage  in  the  West  Indies.  A few  days  after  sailing,  Davis 
took  the  Princess,  of  London,  plundered  her  and  let  her  go;  but  her 


COLONIZATION  AND  MISSIONS. 


17 


Prevalence  of  piracy. — 1721. 


second  mate,  Roberts,  joined  him.  He  landed  at  Prince’s  Island, 
where  the  Portuguese  governor  at  first  favored  them,  for  the  sake  of 
their  trade,  but  finally  assassinated  Davis.  The  crew  then  chose  Rob- 
erts for  their  Captain,  whose  exploits  were  still  more  atrocious. 

The  same  year,  England,  the  pirate,  took  an  English  vessel  near 
Sierra  Leone,  murdered  the  captain,  Skinner,  and  gave  her  to  Howell 
Harris,  who,  after  trial  and  acquittal,  obtained  command  of  a merchant 
sloop,  and  turned  pirate.  Having  had  “pretty  good  success”  fora 
while,  he  attacked  St.  Jago,  in  the  Cape  Verde  Islands,  but  was  repuls- 
ed. He  then  took,  plundered  and  destroyed  the  English  fort  St.  James 
at  the  mouth  of  the  Gambia.  The  fort  appears  to  have  been  partially 
rebuilt  immediately.  In  1721,  the  African  Company  sent  out  the 
Gambra  Castle,  Capt.  Russel,  with  a company  of  soldiers  under  Maj. 
Massey,  to  strengthen  it.  The  new  governor,  Whitney,  had  just  arriv- 
ed. Massey,  with  the  assistance  of  Lowther,  second  mate,  seized 
both  the  fort  and  the  ship  ; and  after  cruising  a while  as  a pirate,  went 
home,  brought  on  his  own  trial,  and  was  hanged. 

In  1721,  Roberts,  before  mentioned,  had  become  so  formidable  as 
to  attract  the  notice  of  the  English  government.  Two  ships  of  50 
guns  each  were  sent  out  to  capture  him.  Atkins,  surgeon  of  the 
squadron,  has  given  an  account  of  the  cruise.  At  Elmina,  in  January, 
they  found  that  Roberts  had  “ made  a bold  sweep  ” in  August,  had 
taken  a vessel  a few  leagues  from  that  place,  and  had  “ committed 
great  cruelties.”  His  three  ships  were  well  manned,  “ seamen  every 
where  entering  with  them;  and  when  they  refused,  it  was  oftener 
through  fear,  than  any  detestation  of  the  practice.”  This  shows  what 
was  then  the  general  character  of  English  seamen  in  that  region,  and 
what  influence  they  must  have  exerted  on  the  natives.  January  15, 
they  reached  Whidah.  The  pirates  had  just  plundered  and  ransomed 
eleven  ships,  and  been  gone  twenty-four  hours.  They  followed  on  to 
the  south,  and  by  the  12th  of  February,  took  all  three  of  their  ships; 
the  crew  of  the  last  having  abandoned  it  and  fled.  They  found  on 
board  about  300  Englishmen,  60  or  70  stout  negroes,  great  plenty  of 
trade  goods,  and  eight  or  ten  thousand  pounds  of  gold  dust.  The  trial 
of  these  pirates  occupied  the  court  at  Cape  Coast  Castle  twenty-six 
days;  52  were  executed  there,  74  acquitted,  20  condemned  to  servi- 
tude, and  17  sent  to  the  Marshalsea. 

The  next  year,  Capt.  George  Roberts  was  taken  by  three  pirates,  of 
whom  Edmund  Loe  was  the  chief,  at  the  Cape  Verde  Islands.  While 
there,  after  Loe  had  gone,  he  fell  in  with  Charles  Franklin,*  who  had 
been  taken  some  time  before  by  Bartholomew’  Roberts,  a pirate,  had 

* This  case  is  mentioned  chiefly  for  the  sake  of  introducing  a note.— Franklin  says  that 
“these  inlanders  have  a notion  that  the  Bakkaraus  [whites]  have  a new  world,  where  they 
intend  to  reside,  which  is  inconceivably  belter  than  the  old;  but  that  there  wants  so  much  to 
be  done  to  it,  that  it  will  be  many  ages  before  it  can  be  made  fit  for  their  reception;  that 
they  send  all  the  most  valuable  things  from  their  old  world  thither,  the  labor  of  which  is  car- 
ried on  bv  the  negroes  they  yearly  lake  out  of  Guinea  ; that  all  those  blacks  must  work  and 
slave  very  hard,  without  any  intermission  or  redemption,  until  the  new  world  is  completely 
fitted  up  in  a very  beautiful  manner,  and  the  Bakkaraus  are  all  settled  there.  But  when  that 
is  done,  having  no  farther  service  for  the  blacks,  they  will  send  them  home  to  inhabit  this 
world,  without  ever  being  molested  more  by  the  whites,  who  will  never  come  here  again. 
This  happy  time  they  earnestly  wish  for.’’ 

Such  was  Franklin’s  statement  to  Roberts  in  1722,  published  in  London  in  1726,  and  now 
transcribed  from  a copy  printed  in  1743.  Is  not  Bakkarau  about  ready  to  spare  them  ? 

3 


18 


COLONIZATION  AND  MISSIONS, 


1680 — 1730. — Influence  of  the  Pirates. — Character  of  the  Natives. 

escaped  from  him  at  Sierra  Leone,  and  taken  refuge  among  the  negroes 
in  the  interior. 

The  pirates  seem  generally  to  have  been  content  with  trading  at 
Sierra  Leone,  without  plundering  the  people  ; though  Roberts  took  the 
place  in  1720.  They  afterwards  took  permanent  possession  of  the  first 
bay  below  the  Cape,  and  occupied  it  for  seven  years  or  more,  till  brok- 
en up  by  an  expedition  from  France  in  1730.  Hence  the  place  was 
called  “ Pirate’s  Bay,”  and  was  so  named  on  British  charts. 

The  moral  influence  of  such  a concentration  of  piracy  upon  the 
coast  for  nearly  half  a century,  cannot  be  doubtful.  The  character  of 
pirates,  we  know,  has  always  been  made  up  of  remorseless  ferocity, 
unscrupulous  rapacity,  and  unbridled  licentiousness.  Perfectly  versed 
in  all  the  vices  of  civilization,  restrained  by  no  moral  principle,  by  no 
feeling  of  humanity,  by  no  sense  of  shame,  they  landed  whenever  and 
almost  wherever  they  pleased  upon  the  whole  coast,  with  forces  which 
it  would  have  been  madness  to  resist,  and  compelled  the  inhabitants, 
whether  negro,  European  or  mixed,  to  become  the  partners  of  their 
revels,  the  accomplices  or  dupes  of  their  duplicity,  or  the  victims  of 
their  violence.  This,  added  to  all  the  other  malign  influences  at  work 
upon  the  coast,  gave  such  an  education  in  evil,  as  probably  was  never 
inflicted  on  any  other  portion  of  the  human  race.  A few  statements  of 
cotemporary  writers  may  place  this  matter  in  a still  clearer  light.  We 
will  confine  our  remarks  to  what  is  now  Liberia  and  its  vicinity,  where 
this  tempest  of  evil  seems  to  have  fallen  with  special  fury. 

Even  in  the  days  of  Portuguese  ascendency,  the  Alesurado  river  was 
called  the  Rio  Duro,  on  account  of  the  cruelty  of  the  people. 

Dapper,  a Dutch  writer,  whose  Description  of  Africa  was  published 
about  the  year  1670,  says  of  the  Q,uojas,  who  were  predominant  from 
Sierra  Leone  to  the  Rio  Sestos,  that  both  sexes  were  extremely  licen- 
tious, they  were  great  thieves,  and  much  addicted  to  witchcraft,  in 
practising  which  they  used  real  poisons.  On  the  death  of  a chief,  it 
was  their  practice  to  strangle  one  or  two  female  slaves,  to  bury  with 
him.  From  the  Sestos  to  Cape  Palmas,  the  people  were  much  the 
same,  but  still  more  adroit  at  theft,  and  more  addicted  to  witchcraft 
and  devil-worship. 

Barbot,  Agent  General  of  the  French  African  Company,  was  on  the 
coast  much  of  the  time  from  1680  to  1701.  He  says  that  the  English 
had  formerly  a settlement  at  Sangwin,  but  abandoned  it,  because  of 
the  ill  temper  of  the  blacks.  At  Bottowa,  they  are  dexterous  thieves, 
and  ought  to  be  well  looked  to  in  dealing  with  them. 

Phillips,*  in  1693,  at  Grand  Sesters,  thought  it  unsafe  to  go  up  the 

* Phillips  sailed  in  ihe  employment  of  the  English  African  Company,  and  was  evidently 
one  of  the  most  humane,  conscientious  and  intelligent  voyagers  to  that  coast.  He  found  the 
people  of  the  Quaqua  coast,  a little  beyond  Cape  Palmas,  to  be  cannibals,  as  most  who  visit- 
ed them  also  testify.  At  Secondee,  Johnson,  the  English  factor,  had  been  surprised  in  the 
night,  cut  in  pieces  and  his  goods  plundered  by  the  negroes,  at  the  instigation  of  the  Dutch. 
At  WhiJah,  Phillips  bought  for  his  two  ships,  1,300  slaves.  Twelve  of  them  wilfully  drown- 
ed themselves,  and  others  starved  themselves  to  death.  He  was  advised  to  cut  off  the  legs 
and  arms  of  a few,  to  terrify  the  rest,  as  other  captains  had  done;  hut  he  could  not  think  of 
treating  with  such  barbarity,  poor  creatures,  who  being  equally’  the  work  of  God’s  hands, 
are  doubtless  as  dear  to  him  as  Ihe  whites.  He  saw  the  bodies  of  several  eaten  by  the 
sharks  which  followed  his  ship.  On  arriving  at  Barbadoes,  the  ship  under  his  immediate 
command  had  lost  “ 14  men  and  320  negroes.”  On  each  dead  negro,  the  African  Company 
lost  £10,  and  the  ship  lost  the  freight,  £10  10s.  He  delivered  alive  372,  who  sold,  on  an 
average,  at  about  £19.  Such  was  the  slave  trade,  in  its  least  horrible  aspect,  in  1693. 


COLONIZATION  AND  MISSIONS. 


19 


Character  of  the  Natives. — Negro  Funeral. — 1693 — 1724. 

river  eight  miles  to  visit  king  Peter,  hearing  that  the  natives  were  very 
treacherous  and  bloody.  The  people  whom  he  saw  were  surly,  and 
looked  like  villains.  Though  his  ship  carried  36  guns,  on  learning  the 
temper  of  the  people,  he  immediately  cleared  for  action  and  left  the 
river. 

Snoek  was  at  Cape  Mesurado  in  1701.  Only  one  negro  came  on 
board,  and  he  saw  but  a few  on  shore.  Two  English  ships  had  two 
months  before  ravaged  their  country,  destroyed  their  canoes,  plundered 
their  houses,  and  carried  off  some  of  their  people. 

Bosnian  was  on  the  coast  about  the  same  time.  His  description  of 
Guinea,  written  in  Dutch  and  translated  into  several  languages,  is  one 
of  the  best  extant.  “ The  negroes,”  he  says,  “ are  all,  without  excep- 
tion, crafty,  villainous  and  fraudulent,  and  very  seldom  to  be  trusted  ; 
being  sure  to  slip  no  opportunity  of  cheating  a European,  nor  indeed 
one  another.”  The  mulattoes,  he  says,  are  “a  parcel  of  profligate  vil- 
lains, neither  true  to  the  negroes  nor  us ; nor  indeed  dare  they  trust 
one  another  ; so  that  you  rarely  see  them  agree  together.  Whatever 
is  in  its  own  nature  worst  in  the  Europeans  and  negroes,  is  united  in 
them.”  At  some  place,  probably  beyond  Cape  Palmas,  he  saw  eleven 
human  sacrifices  at  one  funeral. 

Marchais  was  at  Cape  Mesurado  in  1724.  He  says  that  the  Eng- 
lish, Dutch  and  Portuguese  writers  all  unite  in  representing  the  natives 
there  as  faithless,  cunning,  revengeful  and  cruel  to  the  last  degree; 
and  he  assents  to  the  description.  He  adds,  that  “ formerly  they  offer- 
ed human  sacrifices;  but  this  custom  has  ceased  since  they  found  the 
profit  of  selling  their  prisoners  of  war  to  foreigners.”  He  gives  a map 
of  the  Cape,  and  the  plan  of  a proposed  fort  on  its  summit ; and  thinks 
it  might  yield  1,500  or  2,000  slaves  annually,  besides  a large  amount 
of  ivory. 

At  the  river  Sestos,  Marchais  witnessed  a negro  funeral.  “ The 
captain  or  chief  of  a village  dying  of  a hard  drinking  bout  of  brandy, 
the  cries  of  his  wives  immediately  spread  the  news  through  the  town. 
All  the  women  ran  there  and  howled  like  furies.  The  favorite  wife 
distinguished  herself  by  her  grief,  and  not  without  cause.”  She  was 
watched  hy  the  other  women,  to  prevent  her  escape.  The  Marbut,  or 
priest,  examined  the  body,  and  pronounced  the  death  natural — not  the 
effect  of  witchcraft.  Then  followed  washing  the  body,  and  carrying 
it  in  procession  through  the  village,  with  tearing  of  the  hair,  howling, 
and  other  frantic  expressions  of  grief.  “ During  this,  the  marbut 
made  a grave,  deep  and  large  enough  to  hold  two  bodies.  He  also 
stripped  and  skinned  a goat.  The  pluck  served  to  make  a ragout,  of 
which  he  and  the  assistants  ate.  He  also  caused  the  favorite  wife  to  eat 
some  ; who  had  no  great  inclination  to  taste  it,  knowing  it  was  to  be  her 
last.  She  ate  some,  however;  and  during  this  repast,  the  body  of  the 
goat  was  divided  in  small  pieces,  broiled  and  eaten.  The  lamentations 
began  again  ; and  when  the  marbut  thought  it  was  time  to  end  the 
ceremony,  he  took  the  favorite  wife  by  the  arms,  and  delivered  her  to 
two  stout  negroes.  These,  seizing  her  roughly,  tied  her  hands  and 
feet  behind  her,  and  laying  her  on  her  back,  placed  a piece  of  wood 
on  her  breast.  Then,  holding  each  other  with  their  hands  on  their 
shoulders,  they  stamped  with  their  feet  on  the  piece  of  wood,  till 


20 


COLONIZATION  AND  MISSIONS. 


1713 — 1791. — Character  of  Natives  and  Traders. — Assiento  Treaty. 

they  had  broken  the  woman’s  breast.  Having  thus  at  least  half  des- 
patched her,  they  threw  her  into  the  grave,  with  the  remainder  of  the 
goat,  casting  her  husband’s  body  over  her,  and  filling  up  the  grave  with 
earth  and  stones.  Immediately,  the  cries  ceasing,  a quick  silence  suc- 
ceeded the  noise,  and  every  one  retired  home  as  quietly  as  if  nothing 
had  happened.” 

Smith  was  sent  out  by  the  African  Company  to  survey  the  coast,  in 
1726.  At  Gallinas,  in  December,  he  found  Benjamin  Cross,  whom 
the  natives  had  seized  and  kept  three  months,  in  reprisal  for  some  of 
their  people,  who  had  been  seized  by  the  English.  Such  seizures,  he 
says,  were  too  often  practiced  by  Bristol  and  Liverpool  ships.  Cross 
was  ransomed  for  about  ,£50.  At  Cape  Mount,  he  found  the  natives 
cautious  of  intercourse,  for  fear  of  being  seized.  At  Cape  Mesurado, 
in  January,  1727,  he  saw  many  of  the  natives,  but  not  liking  to  ven- 
ture on  shore,  had  no  discourse  with  them. 

In  1730,  Snelgrave,  who  had  been  captured  by  pirates  nine  years 
before,  was  again  on  the  coast.  There  was  then  not  a single  European 
factory  on  the  whole  Windward  Coast,  and  Europeans  were  “ shy  of 
trusting  themselves  on  shore,  the  natives  being  very  barbarous  and  un- 
civilized.” He  never  met  a white  man  who  durst  venture  himself  up 
the  country.  He  mentions  the  suspicions  and  revengeful  feelings  of 
the  natives,  occasioned  by  seizing  them  for  slaves,  as  a cause  of  the 
danger.  He,  too,  witnessed  human  sacrifices. 

Such  was  the  character  of  what  is  now  Liberia,  after  268  years  of 
intercourse  with  slave  traders  and  pirates. 

Meanwhile,  nations  were  treating  with  each  other  for  the  extension 
of  the  slave  trade.  The  Genoese  at  first  had  the  privilege  of  furnish- 
ing the  Spanish  Colonies  with  negro  slaves.  The  French  next  obtain- 
ed it,  and  kept  it  till,  according  to  Spanish  official  returns,  it  had  yield- 
ed them  $204,000,000.  In  1713,  the  British  government,  by  the 
famous  Assiento  treaty,  secured  it  for  the  South  Sea  Company  for  thir- 
ty years.  In  1739,  Spain  was  desirous  to  take  the  business  into  her 
own  hands,  and  England  sold  out  the  remaining  four  years  for  £100,- 
000,  to  be  paid  in  London  in  three  months.* 

From  this  time  to  1791,  when  the  British  Parliament  began  to  col- 
lect testimony  concerning  the  slave  trade,  there  seems  to  have  been  no 
important  change  in  the  influences  operating  on  the  coast,  or  in  the 
character  of  its  inhabitants.  The  collection  and  publication  of  testi- 
mony was  continued  till  the  passage,  in  1807,  of  the  act  abolishing 
the  trade.  From  this  testimony,  it  appeared  that  nearly  all  the  masters 
of  English  ships  engaged  in  that  trade,  were  of  the  most  abandoned 
character,  none  too  good  to  be  pirates.  Their  cruelty  to  their  own 
men  was  so  excessive  and  so  notorious,  that  crews  could  never  be  ob- 
tained without  great  difficulty,  and  seldom  without  fraud.  Exciting 
the  native  tribes  to  make  war  on  each  other  for  the  purpose  of  obtain- 
ing slaves,  was  a common  practice.  The  Windward  Coast,  especially, 
was  fast  becoming  depopulated.  The  Bassa  country,  and  that  on  the 
Mesurado  and  Junk  rivers,  were  particularly  mentioned,  as  regions 

* Rees’  Cyclopedia,  Art.  Assiento.  The  statement  may  be  slightly  inaccurate.  The 
treaty,  or  “convention  ” with  Spain  in  1739,  stipulated  for  the  payment  of  £96,000,  and  the 
settlement  of  certain  other  claims,  the  amount  of  which  was  still  to  he  ascertained. 


COLONIZATION  AND  MISSIONS. 


21 


Panyaring. — Piracy. — Liberia  Founded. — 1791 — 1823. 


which  had  suffered  in  these  wars;  where  the  witnesses  had  seen  the 
ruins  of  villages,  lately  surprised  and  burned  in  the  night,  and  rice 
fields  unharvested,  because  their  owners  had  been  seized  and  sold. 
On  other  parts  of  the  coast,  the  slaves  were  collected  and  kept  for  em- 
barkation in  factories;  but  on  the  Windward  Coast,  “ every  tree  was  a 
factory,”  and  when  the  negroes  had  any  thing  to  sell,  they  signified  it 
by  kindling  a fire.  Here,  also,  was  the  principal  scene  of  “ panyar- 
ing;” that  is,  of  enticing  a negro  into  a canoe,  or  other  defenceless 
situation,  and  then  seizing  him.  The  extent  of  this  practice  may  be 
inferred  from  the  fact,  that  it  had  a name,  by  which  it  was  universally 
known.  A negro  was  hired  to  panyar  a fine  girl,  whom  an  English 
captain  desired  to  possess.  A few  days  after,  he  was  panyared  himself, 
and  sold  to  the  same  captain.  ‘‘What !”  he  exclaimed, — “ buy  me,  a 
great  trader?”  “ Yes,”  was  the  reply, — “ we  will  buy  any  of  you,  if 
any  body  will  sell  you.”  It  was  given  in  evidence,  that  business  could 
not  be  transacted,  if  the  buyer  were  to  inquire  into  the  title  of  those 
from  whom  he  bought.  Piracy,  too,  added  its  horrors  whenever  the 
state  of  the  world  permitted,  and,  as  we  shall  have  occasion  to  show, 
was  rampant  when  Liberia  was  founded. 

Factories,  however,  were  gradually  re-established  and  fortified  ; but 
not  till  the  slave  trade  had  nearly  depopulated  the  coast,  and  thus  di- 
minished the  danger.  Two  British  subjects,  Bostock  and  McQuinn, 
had  one  at  Cape  Mesurado.  In  June,  1813,  His  Majesty’s  ship  Thais 
sent  forty  men  on  shore,  who,  after  a battle  in  which  one  of  their  num- 
ber was  killed,  entered  the  factory  and  captured  its  owners.  French, 
and  especially  Spanish  factories,  had  become  numerous. 

A large  proportion,  both  of  the  slave  ships  and  factories,  were  pirat- 
ical. By  the  laws  of  several  nations,  the  trade  was  prohibited,  and 
ships  engaged  in  it  liable  to  capture.  They  therefore  prepared  to  de- 
fend themselves.  The  general  peace  which  followed  the  downfall  of 
Napoleon,  left  many  privateers  and  their  crews  out  of  employment,  and 
they  engaged  at  once  in  piracy  and  the  slave  trade.  In  1818,  Lord 
Castlereagh  communicated  to  the  ambassadors  of  the  leading  powers  of 
Europe,  a list  of  eighteen  armed  slavers  lately  on  the  coast,  of  five  ves- 
sels taken  and  destroyed  by  them,  and  of  several  battles  with  others; 
and  these  were  mentioned  only  as  specimens. 

The  natives,  notwithstanding  the  evils  which  the  slave  trade  inflict- 
ed upon  them,  were  infatuated  with  it.  In  1821,  the  agents  of  the 
Colonization  Society  attempted  to  purchase  a tract  for  their  first  settle- 
ment at  Grand  Bassa.  The  only  obstacle  was,  the  refusal  of  the  peo- 
ple to  make  any  concession  towards  an  abandonment  of  that  traffic. 
In  December  of  that  year,  a contract  with  that  indispensable  condition 
was  made  for  Cape  Mesurado.  The  first  colonists  took  possession, 
January?,  1822.  In  November  of  the  same  year,  and  again  in  De- 
cember, the  natives  attacked  the  Colony  in  great  numbers,  and  with  an 
obstinate  determination  to  exterminate  the  settlers  and  renew  the  trade 
at  that  accustomed  spot.  In  April  and  May,  1823,  Mr.  Ashmun,  gov- 
ernor of  the  Colony,  went  on  business  along  the  coast  about  150  miles, 
to  Settra  Kroo.  “ One  century  ago,”  he  remarks,  “ a great  part  of 
this  line  of  coast  was  populous,  cleared  of  trees,  and  under  cultivation. 
It  is  now  covered  with  a dense  and  almost  continuous  forest.  This  is 


22 


COLONIZATION  AND  MISSIONS. 


1823 — 1827. — Depopulation  and  Demoralization  of  the  Country. 

almost  wholly  a second  growth;  commonly  distinguished  from  the 
original  by  the  profusion  of  brambles  and  brushwood,  which  abounds 
amongst  the  larger  trees,  and  renders  the  woods  entirely  impervious, 
even  to  the  natives,  until  paths  are  opened  by  the  bill-hook.” 

In  May,  1825,  Mr.  Ashmun  purchased  for  the  colony,  a fine  tract 
on  the  St.  Paul’s.  Of  this  he  says  : “ Along  this  beautiful  river  were 
formerly  scattered,  in  Africa’s  better  days,  innumerable  native  hamlets; 
and  till  within  the  last  twenty  years,  nearly  the  whole  river  board,  for 
one  or  two  miles  back,  was  under  that  slight  culture  which  obtains 
among  the  natives  of  this  country.  But  the  population  has  been  wast- 
ed by  the  rage  for  trading  in  slaves,  with  which  the  constant  presence 
of  slaving  vessels  and  the  introduction  of  foreign  luxuries  have  inspir- 
ed them.  The  south  bank  of  this  river,  and  all  the  intervening  coun- 
try between  it  and  the  Mesurado,  have  been  from  this  cause,  near- 
ly desolated  of  inhabitants.  A few  detached  and  solitary  planta- 
tions, scattered  at  long  intervals  through  the  tract,  just  serve  to  inter- 
rupt the  silence  and  relieve  the  gloom  which  reigns  over  the  whole  re- 
gion.” 

The  moral  desolation,  he  found  to  be  still  more  complete.  He 
writes:  “The  two  slaving  stations  of  Cape  Mount  and  Cape  Mesurado 
have,  for  several  ages,  desolated  of  every  thing  valuable,  the  interven- 
ing very  fertile  and  beautiful  tract  of  country.  The  forests  have  re- 
mained untouched,  all  moral  virtue  has  been  extinguished  in  the 
people,  and  their  industry  annihilated,  by  this  one  ruinous  cause.” 
“ Polygamy  and  domestic  slavery,  it  is  well  known,  are  as  universal  as 
the  scanty  means  of  the  people  will  permit.  And  a licentiousness  of 
practice  which  none — not  the  worst  part  of  any  civilized  community 
on  earth — can  parallel,  gives  a hellish  consummation  to  the  frightful  de- 
formity imparted  by  sin  to  the  moral  aspect  of  these  tribes.”  “ The 
emigrants,  from  the  hour  of  their  arrival  in  Africa,  are  acted  upon  by 
the  vitiating  example  of  the  natives  of  this  country.  The  amount  and 
effects  of  this  influence,  I fear,  are  generally  and  egregiously  under- 
rated. It  is  not  known  to  every  one,  how  little  difference  can  be  per- 
ceived in  the  measure  of  intellect  possessed  by  an  ignorant  rustic  from 
the  United  States,  and  a sprightly  native  of  the  coast.  It  may  not  be 
easily  credited,  but  the  fact  certainly  is,  that  the  advantage  is,  oftenest, 
on  die  side  of  the  latter.  The  sameness  of  color,  and  the  correspond- 
ing characteristics  to  be  expected  in  different  portions  of  the  same 
race,  give  to  the  example  of  the  natives  a power  and  influence  over  the 
colonists,  as  extensive  as  it  is  corrupting.  For  it  must  not  be  suppress- 
ed, however  the  fact  may  be  at  variance  with  the  first  impressions  from 
which  most  African  journalists  have  allowed  themselves  to  sketch  the 
character  of  the  natives,  that  it  is  vicious  and  contaminating  in  the 
last  degree.  I have  often  expressed  my  doubt,  whether  the  simple  idea 
of  moral  justice,  as  we  conceive  it  from  the  early  dawn  of  reason,  has 
a place  in  the  thoughts  of  a pagan  African.  As  a principle  of  practi- 
cal morality,  I am  sure  that  no  such  sentiment  obtains  in  the  breast  of 
five  Africans  within  my  acquaintance.  A selfishness  which  prostrates 
every  consideration  of  another’s  good ; a habit  of  dishonest  dealing,  of 
which  nothing  short  of  unceasing,  untiring  vigilance  can  avert  the 
consequences;  an  unlimited  indulgence  of  the  appetites;  and  the 


colonization  and  missions. 


23 


King  Boatswain. — Spanish  Pirates. — 1893 — 1896. 

labored  excitement*  and  unbounded  gratification  of  lust  the  most  un- 
bridled and  beastly — these  are  the  ingredients  of  the  African  charac- 
ter. And  however  revolting,  however,  on  occasion,  concealed  by  an 
assumed  decency  of  demeanor,  such  is  the  common  character  of  all.” 

This  last  extract  was  dated  May  20,  1827,  when  Mr.  Ashmun  had 
been  nearly  five  years  in  Africa,  and  in  the  most  favorable  circumstan- 
ces for  learning  the  truth. 

And  this  horrid  work  was  still  going  on.  In  August,  1823,  Mr. 
Ashmun  wrote  : — “ I wish  to  afford  the  Board  a full  view  of  our  situ- 
ation, and  of  the  African  character.  The  following  incident  I relate, 
not  for  its  singularity,  for  similar  events  take  place,  perhaps,  every 
month  in  the  year;  but  because  it  has  fallen  under  my  own  observa- 
tion, and  I can  vouch  for  its  authenticity.  King  Boatswain  received  a 
quantity  of  goods  in  trade  from  a French  slaver,  for  which  he  stipulat- 
ed to  pay  young  slaves.  He  makes  it  a point  of  honor  to  be  punctual 
to  his  engagements.  The  time  was  at  hand  when  he  expected  the  re- 
turn of  the  slaver.  He  had  not  the  slaves.  Looking  round  on  the 
peaceable  tribes  about  him,  for  her  victims,  he  singled  out  the  Queahs, 
a small  agricultural  and  trading  people,  of  most  inoffensive  character. 

1 1 is  warriors  were  skilfully  distributed  to  the  different  hamlets,  and 
making  a simultaneous  assault  on  the  sleeping  occupants,  in  the  dead 
of  night,  accomplished,  without  difficulty  or  resistance,  the  annihila- 
tion, with  the  exception  of  a few  towns,  of  the  whole  tribe.  Every 
adult  man  and  woman  was  murdered  ; very  young  children  generally 
shared  the  fate  of  their  parents  ; the  boys  and  girls  alone  were  reserved 
to  pay  the  Frenchman.” 

King  Boatswain  was  not  such  an  untaught  barbarian  as  some  may 
suppose.  He  began  life  without  hereditary  rank,  served  in  the  British 
Navy  till  he  attained  the  rank  of  boatswain,  and  afterwards  gradually 
rose  among  his  own  people  by  his  superior  intelligence  and  force  of 
character.  In  September,  1824,  he  seized  80  more  of  the  Queahs. 

In  August,  1825,  the  Clarida,  a Spanish  slaver  connected  with  the 
factory  at  Digby,  a little  north  of  the  St.  Paul’s,  plundered  an  English 
brig  at  anchor  in  Monrovia  harbor.  Mr  Ashmun,  with  22  volunteers, 
and  the  captain  of  the  brig  with  about  an  equal  force,  broke  up  the 
factory,  and  released  the  slaves  confined  in  it.  A French  and  a Span- 
ish factory,  both  within  five  miles  of  Monrovia,  uniting  their  interests 
with  the  Clarida,  were  soon  after  broken  up,  and  their  slaves  released. 
The  French  factory  had  kidnapped,  or  purchased  of  kidnappers,  some 
of  the  colonists,  and  attempted  to  hold  them  as  slaves. 

In  1826,  the  Minerva,  a Spanish  slaver,  connected  with  some  or  all 
of  the  three  factories  at  Trade  town,  had  committed  piracy  on  several 
American  and  other  vessels,  and  obtained  possession  of  several  of  the 
colonists.  At  the  suggestion  of  Mr.  Ashmun,  she  was  captured  by 
the  Dragon,  a French  brig  of  war,  and  condemned  at  Goree.  The 
factories  at  Trade  town  bought  eight  of  the  colonists,  who  had  been 

panyared,”  and  refused  to  deliver  them  up  on  demand.  In  April, 
Mr.  Ashmun,  assisted  by  two  Columbian  armed  vessels,  landed,  broke 


* Of  this,  in  respect  to  both  sexes,  we  might  have  produced  disgusting  testimony,  more 
than  a century  old,  relating  especially  to  this  part  of  the  coast.  In  this,  as  in  other  things, 
their  character  had  evidently  undergone  no  essential  change. 


24 


COLONIZATION  AND  MISSIONS. 


1826—1841. — Massacre  at  Bassa  Cove. — Attack  on  Heddington. 

up  the  factories,  and  released  the  slaves.  The  natives,  under  King 
West,  then  rose  in  defence  of  the  slavers,  and  made  it  necessary  to 
burn  Trade  town.  The  Colonial  government  then  publicly  prohibited 
the  trade  on  the  whole  line  of  coast,  over  which  it  assumed  a qualified 
jurisdiction,  from  Cape  Mount  to  Trade  town.  In  July,  a combination 
to  restore  Trade  town  was  formed  by  several  piratical  vessels  and  na- 
tive chiefs.  July  27,  the  brig  John  of  Portland  and  schooner  Bona  of 
Baltimore,  at  anchor  in  Monrovia  harbor,  were  plundered  by  a pirati- 
cal brig  of  twelve  guns,  which  then  proceeded  to  Gallinas  and  took  in 
000  slaves. 

“ The  slave  trade,”  Mr.  Ashmun  wrote  about  this  time,  “ is  the 
pretext  under  which  expensive  armaments  are  fitted  out  every  week 
from  Havana,  and  desperadoes  enlisted  for  enterprises  to  this  country; 
in  which,  on  their  arrival,  the  trade  is  either  forgotten  entirely,  or  at- 
tended to  as  a mere  secondary  object,  well  suited  to  conceal  from 
cruisers  they  may  fall  in  with,  their  real  object.  Scarcely  an  Ameri- 
can trading  vessel  has  for  the  last  twelve  months  been  on  this  coast,  as 
low  as  six  degrees  north,  without  suffering  either  insult  or  plunder 
from  these  Spaniards.” 

The  batteries  for  the  protection  of  Monrovia  harbor  were  immedi- 
ately strengthened,  the  Trade  town  combination  was  of  short  continu- 
ance, and  the  growth  of  the  Colony  soon  changed  the  character,  both 
of  the  coast  and  its  visiters. 

Would  the  non-resistance  policy  of  William  Penn  have  succeeded 
better  ? It  has  been  tried.  The  Pennsylvania  Colonization  Society 
commenced  an  unarmed  settlement  at  Bassa  Cove,  about  the  end  of 
the  year  1834.  King  Joe  Harris  sold  them  land  to  settle  upon,  and 
professed  to  be  their  cordial  friend.  In  a few  months,  a slaver  arrived. 
Harris  had  slaves  for  sale  ; but  the  slaver  would  not  trade,  so  near  a 
settlement  of  Americans.  This  finished  the  temptation  which  Harris 
had  already  begun  to  feel.  He  fell  upon  the  settlement  in  the  dead  of 
night,  killed  about  twenty  of  the  colonists,  and  while  the  remainder 
fled  to  save  their  lives,  plundered  their  houses.  A singular  fact  shows 
that  he  was  not  only  fully  and  minutely  acquainted  with  their  peaceful 
character,  but  that  he  was  encouraged  by  it  to  make  the  attack.  One 
of  the  colonists  owned  a musket,  and  another  sometimes  borrowed  it ; 
so  that  Harris  could  not  know  in  which  of  their  houses  it  might  then 
happen  to  be.  He  therefore  refrained  from  attacking  either  of  those 
houses. 

Would  purely  missionary  establishments  be  more  secure?  This 
also  has  been  tried.  The  Methodist  station  at  Heddington,  on  the 
south  bank  of  the  St.  Pauls’,  about  20  miles  from  Monrovia,  was  of 
that  character.  Gatumba,  king  of  those  lately  known  here  as  Men- 
dians,  and  whose  strong  hold  was  about  two  days’  march  north  east 
from  Monrovia,  had  in  his  employ,  Goterah,  a cannibal  warrior  from 
the  interior,  who,  with  his  band  of  mercenary  desperadoes,  had  deso- 
lated many  native  towns,  and  taken  hosts  of  slaves  for  his  employer  to 
sell.  He  was  evidently  a remnant  of  the  Giagas.  One  night  in  1841, 
he  made  an  attack  on  Heddington.  His  threats,  to  plunder  the  mis- 
sion property,  take  the  children  in  school  for  slaves,  and  eat  the  mis- 
sionary, had  been  reported  at  Heddington,  and  arms  had  been  procur- 


COLONIZATION  AND  MISSIONS. 


25 


Cape  Palmas  Missionaries  in  danger. — 1842 — 1844. 

ed  for  defence.  After  an  obstinate  contest,  Goterah  was  shot,  while 
rushing,  sword  in  hand,  into  the  mission-house.  His  followers  were 
soon  seized  with  a panic,  and  fled.  Among  the  camp  equipage  which 
they  left,  was  a kettle,  which  Goterah  had  brought  with  him,  to  boil 
the  missionary  in  for  his  breakfast. 

The  experiment  was  tried  again.  The  Episcopal  missionaries  at 
Cape  Palmas  imagined  that  the  peace  and  safety  in  which  they  had 
been  able  to  live  and  labor  for  several  years,  were  in  no  degree  owing 
to  colonial  protection  ; and  they  resolved  to  act  accordingly.  They 
commenced  a station  at  Half  Cavally,  about  13  miles  east  of  the  Cape, 
among  the  natives,  but  within  the  territory  of  the  Colony  ; another  at 
Rockbokah,  about  eight  miles  farther  east,  and  beyond  the  limits  of 
the  colonial  territory;  and  another  at  Taboo,  some  17  miles  beyond 
Rockbokah.  In  1842,  some  of  the  natives  near  these  last  named  sta- 
tions seized  the  schooner  Mary  Carver,  of  Salem,  mmdered  the  cap- 
tain and  crew,  and  plundered  the  vessel.  The  perpetrators  of  this  out- 
rage soon  become  known  to  Mr.  Minor  at  Taboo,  and  Mr.  Appleby  at 
Rockbokah.  To  guard  against  exposure  and  enrich  themselves,  the 
chiefs  entered  into  a conspiracy  to  kill  the  missionaries  and  plunder 
their  premises.  The  missionaries,  being  aware  of  the  design,  were  on 
their  guard,  and  its  execution  was  deferred  to  a more  convenient  op- 
portunity, and,  as  Mr.  Appleby  supposed,  was  at  length  abandoned. 
Meanwhile,  Mr.  Minor  died.  The  natives  within  the  colonial  territory 
agreed  to  force  the  colonists  to  pay  higher  prices  for  provisions,  and 
prepared  for  war.  Early  in  December,  1S43,  Mr.  Payne,  at  Half 
Cavally,  finding  himself  surrounded  by  armed  natives,  from  whom  his 
life  and  the  lives  of  his  family  were  in  danger,  sent  to  Cape  Palmas 
for  rescue.  When  his  messenger  arrived,  the  U.  S.  squadron  had  just 
come  in  sight.  A vessel  was  immediately  sent  for  his  relief.  A force 
was  landed,  he  and  his  family  were  escorted  to  the  shore,  taken  on 
board  and  conveyed  to  Cape  Palmas.  On  proceeding  eastward,  to 
punish  the  murderers  of  the  crew  of  the  Mary  Carver,  the  squadron 
took  off  Mr.  Appleby  from  his  dangerous  position  at  Rockbokah.  The 
presence  of  the  squadron  soon  induced  the  natives  to  make  peace  with 
the  colony ; but  for  several  weeks  it  was  supposed  that  the  Cavally 
station  could  never  be  safely  resumed.  The  school  at  Rockbokah  is 
still  continued,  under  a native  teacher,  and  perhaps  Mr.  Appleby  may 
yet  return  to  it,  as  the  natives  think  that  his  presence  will  be,  in  some 
degree,  a pledge  of  peace. 

We  may  then  consider  it  as  proved  by  facts  of  the  plainest  signifi- 
cancy,  that  up  to  the  commencement  of  this  present  year,  1844,  un- 
armed men,  whether  colonists  or  missionaries,  white  or  black,  native 
or  immigrant,  could  not  live  safely  in  that  part  of  the  world  without 
colonial  protection. 


4 


26 


COLONIZATION  AND  MISSIONS 


l(iU4 — 1721. — Missionary  Labors  in  Western  Africa. 


PART  III. 


Missionary  Labors  in  Western  Africa,  and  their  Results. 

Perhaps  a clearer  light  inay  be  thrown  upon  the  subject,  by  a con- 
nected view  of  the  various  attempts  that  have  been  made,  to  introduce 
civilization  and  Christianity  into  Guinea.  It  need  occupy  but  little 
space,  as  the  history  of  far  the  greater  part  of  them  records  only  the 
attempts  and  their  failure. 

The  Portuguese,  we  have  seen,  commenced  and  prosecuted  their 
discoveries  under  authority  from  the  Pope,  to  conquer  and  convert  all 
unbelievers  from  Cape  Bojador  to  India.  We  have  seen,  too,  what  a 
pompous  commencement  they  made  at  Elmina.  Their  establishments 
were  at  one  time  numerous  along  the  whole  coast  of  Upper  Guinea, 
and  as  far  north  as  Arguin.  It  is  said  that  they  every  where  had 
chapels,  and  made  efforts  at  proselytism.  The  language  of  historians 
seems  to  imply  that  even  the  Portuguese  mulattoes,  when  driven  in- 
land from  the  Grain  Coast  in  1604,  built  chapels  in  the  interior,  and 
strove  to  make  proselyte^.  In  Congo,  they  put  their  candidate  on  the 
throne  by  force  of  arms,  and  thus  converted  the  nation.  In  Upper 
Guinea,  they  converted  a few,  and  but  a few;  as  the  negroes  generally 
would  neither  give  up  polygamy,  nor  submit  to  auricular  confession.  In 
1607,  Dapper  states  that  the  Jesuits  found  some  on  the  Rio  Grande 
who  were  willing  to  receive  baptism,  but  not  being  prepared  for  it,  it 
was  deferred.  The  same  year,  he  tells  us,  the  Jesuit  Bareira  baptized 
the  king  of  Sierra  Leone,  his  family,  and  several  others.  He  adds, 
about  1670,  “ the  king  still  receives  baptism,  but  practises  idolatry  to 
please  his  subjects.”  According  to  Bareira’s  own  account,  king 
Philip,  whom  he  baptized,  was  a hundred  years  old,  and  W'as  one  of 
the  Cumbas.  He  professes  to  have  made  a more  favorable  impression 
on  the  natives,  because  he  did  not  engage  in  the  slave  trade  and  other 
branches  of  commerce,  as  all  former  priests  there  had  done.  Labat 
informs  us,  that  in  1666,  Don  Philip,  a Christian,  reigned  at  Burre,  on 
the  south  side  of  the  Sierra  Leone  river,  and  kept  a Jesuit  and  a Por- 
tuguese Capuchin,  who  preached  Christianity,  but  without  effect. 
Villault,  however,  says,  the  same  year,  that  “the  Portuguese  settled 
here  have  made  many  converts.”  Barbot  asserts  that  the  Portuguese 
had  converted  many  in  Bulm  ; that  is,  many  of  the  Bulloms,  on  the 
north  of  the  river.  The  truth  seems  to  be,  that  they  persuaded  a con- 
siderable number  of  individuals  to  receive  baptism,  but  made  no  gene- 
ral impression  upon  the  people ; so  that  Labat,  himself  a missionary, 
considered  their  attempt  a failure.  As  to  the  character  of  their  con- 
verts, his  Don  Philip,  keeping  a Jesuit  and  a Capuchin  to  preach 
Christianity,  and  yet  practising  idolatry  to  please  his  subjects,  is  doubt- 
less a fair  sample.  In  1721,  one  native  of  some  consequence,  nine 
miles  up  the  river,  is  mentioned  as  a Romanist.  He  had  been  bap- 
tized in  Portugal.  The  expedition  for  the  conversion  of  the  Jalofl’s, 
we  have  seen,  was  defeated  by  the  assassination  of  Bemoi.  Still,  they 
made  some  converts  in  that  quarter.  But  every  where  north  of  Congo, 


COLONIZATION  AND  MISSIONS. 


27 


Roman  Catholic  .Missions. — 1635 — 1705. 


their  converts  seem  to  have  been  confined  almost  wholly  to  the  depend- 
ents on  their  trading  houses;  and  when  these  were  given  up,  their  re- 
ligion soon  disappeared. 

The  French  missions,  so  far  as  we  have  been  able  to  discover,  com- 
menced in  1635,  when  five  Capuchins  were  sent  to  the  mouth  of  the 
Assinee.  In  a short  time,  and  before  they  accomplished  any  thing, 
three  of  them  died,  and  the  other  two  retired  to  Axim.  In  1(336,  sev- 
eral Capuchins  of  Normandy  were  sent  as  missionaries  to  Cape  Verde, 
one  of  whom  had  the  title  of  prefect;  “ but  they  left  the  country,  be- 
cause they  could  not  live  in  it.”  In  1674,  another  company  of  Ca- 
puchins attempted  a mission,  probably  somewhere  on  the  Ivory  or 
Gold  Coast ; but  nothing  is  known  of  its  results.  In  1687,  father 
Gonsalvez,  a Dominican,  on  his  way  to  India,  stopped  at  Assinee,  and 
left  father  Henry  Cerizier,  with  a house  and  six  slaves,  to  commence 
a mission.  Cerizier  died  in  a few  months.  In  1700,  father  Loyer, 
w'ho  had  been  sometime  in  the  West  Indies,  was  nominated  by  the 
Propaganda  and  appointed  by  the  Pope,  as  Apostolic  Prefect  of  Mis- 
sions in  Guinea.  He  embarked  at  Rochelle,  April  18,  1701 , having 
with  him  father  Jaques  Villard  as  a missionary,  and  Aniaba,  who,  he 
says,  had  been  given  to  Gonsalvez  by  Zenan,  king  of  Assinee,  and  ed- 
ucated and  baptized  in  France.  The  European  Mercury  announced 
his  baptism  in  the  following  paragraph  : — 

“ Here  is  another  pagan  prince  brought  over  to  the  Christian  faith  ; 
— namely,  Lewis  Hannibal,  king  of  Syria,  on  the  Gold  Coast  of  Afri- 
ca ; who,  after  being  a long  time  instructed  in  the  Christian  principles, 
and  baptized  by  the  bishop  of  Meaux,  the  king  being  his  godfather, 
received  the  sacrament  of  the  Lord’s  Supper  on  the  27th  of  February, 
from  the  Cardinal  de  Noailles,  and  offered  at  the  same  time  a picture 
of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  to  whose  protection  he  submitted  his  territory; 
having  made  a vow,  at  his  return  thither,  to  use  his  utmost  endeavors 
towards  the  conversion  of  his  subjects.” 

On  arriving  at  Grand  Sesters,  Aniaba  went  on  shore,  and,  Loyer 
says,  “lived  eight  days  among  the  negressess,  in  a way  which  edified 
nobody.”  They  touched  on  the  Quaqua  coast,  and  found  the  people 
to  be  cannibals,  eating  negroes  frequently,  and  all  the  white  men  they 
could  get  into  their  possession.  June  25,  they  reached  the  Assinee. 
After  a short  negotiation  for  the  ground,  a fort  was  built'near  the  east- 
ern shore  of  the  river,  at  its  mouth,  and  a garrison  left  for  its  defence. 
Aniaba  proved  worthless.  The  mission  accomplished  nothing.  Loyer 
left  in  1703.  The  garrison  found  it  difficult  to  maintain  itself  against 
repeated  attacks,  and  in  1705  the  whole  establishment  was  given  up. 

Who  this  Aniaba  really  was,  is  a matter  of  some  uncertainty.  In 
France,  he  was  certainly  represented  as  the  son  of  Zenan,  king  of  the 
Assinees,  sent  thither  for  education  ; and  in  this  character,  he  served 
for  a while  as  a captain  in  the  French  cavalry.  Loyer,  writing  after 
his  disappointment,  and  with  evident  mortification,  merely  represents 
him  as  one  whom  Zenan  had  given  to  Gonsalvez.  Bosman,  to  whom 
we  are  indebted  for  the  extract  from  the  Mercury,  says  that  he  was 
originally  a slave  among  the  Assinees;  that  a Frenchman  obtained 
possession  of  him  and  carried  him  home,  intending  to  keep  him  for  a 
valet ; that  he  had  shrewdness  enough  to  gull  French  bishops  and  car- 


28 


COLONIZATION  AND  MISSIONS. 


1652 — 1723. — Roman  Catholic  Mission. 

dinals  into  the  belief  of  his  royal  descent;  and  that  on  his  return,  he 
was  forced  back  into  the  service  of  his  old  Assinee  master. 

Loyer,  while  there,  made  some  missionary  efforts.  On  one  occasion, 
in  the  presence  of  the  natives,  he  broke  a fetish  into  a thousand  pieces, 
trod  it  under  his  feet,  and  then  cast  it  into  the  fire.  They  all  fled,  say- 
ing that  the  lightning  would  blast  him,  or  the  earth  swallow  him 
up.  Seeing  that  he  remained  unharmed,  they  said  it  was  because  he 
did  not  believe;  on  which  he  exhorted  them  to  be  unbelievers  too.  But 
his  exhortations  were  in  vain.  His  English  editor  asks, — “ How 
would  he  have  liked  to  have  had  one  of  his  own  fetishes  so  treated? 
A negro,  or  a Protestant,  would  be  put  to  death  for  such  an  offence  in 
most  popish  countries.”  Villault,  in  1667,  had  used  the  same  argu- 
ment on  the  Gold  Coast,  and  as  he  thought,  with  more  success.  He 
broke  the  negroes’  fetishes,  and  told  them  to  sign  themselves  with  the 
cross,  and  the  fetish  could  not  hurt  them.  Many  came  to  him  and  ex- 
changed their  fetishes  for  crucifixes,  which  they  evidently  regarded  as 
only  stronger  fetishes. 

Loyer  represents  the  negroes  as  trick ish  and  subtle,  great  liars  and 
thieves,  “ the  most  deceitful  and  ungrateful  people  in  the  universe.” 

The  first  Spanish  mission  to  this  part  of  the  world,  so  far  as  we  can 
learn,  was  commenced  in  1652,  w hen  fifteen  Capuchins  were  sent  to 
Sierra  Leone.  Twelve  of  them  were  taken  prisoners  by  the  Portu- 
guese, who  were  then  at  war  with  Spain.  The  other  three  are  said  to 
have  converted  some  of  the  people,  baptized  some  of  their  princes, 
and  built  churches  in  some  of  their  chief  towns.  They  were  reinforc- 
ed in  1657,  and  again  in  1664.  In  1723,  the  Pope’s  nuncio  in  Spain 
announced  that  the  mission  w'as  extinct.  In  1659,  certain  Capuchins 
of  Castile  attempted  a mission  at  Ardra,  on  the  Slave  Coast;  but  they 
soon  gave  it  up,  on  finding  that  the  king  only  pretended  to  turn  Chris- 
tian, for  the  sake  of  encouraging  trade  with  Spain. 

We  find  no  mention  of  any  other  Roman  Catholic  mission  in  Upper 
Guinea,  till  the  late  attempt  at  Cape  Palmas.  From  the  formal  com- 
mencement of  the  mission  at  Elmina,  in  1482,  eleven  years  after  the 
complete  discovery  of  the  coast,  to  the  abandonment  of  Sierra  Leone, 
in  1723,  was  241  years  of  Roman  Catholic  missionary  effort.  After  so 
long  a trial,  and  for  the  greater  part  of  the  time  in  the  most  favorable 
circumstances  for  the  missionaries,  the  religion  of  Guinea  proved  too 
strong  an  antagonist  for  the  religion  of  Rome.  What  little  impression 
they  made  on  a few  of  their  dependents,  w'as  soon  effaced,  and  Roman- 
ism in  Guinea  has  long  since  ceased  to  exist.  A boastful  view  of  Ro- 
manism and  its  missions,  in  the  Annals  of  the  Propagation  of  the  Faith 
for  June,  1839,  claims  no  mission  in  all  Western  Africa,  nor  any  Catho- 
lics, except  in  the  French  settlement  on  (he  Senegal,  any  where  be- 
tween Congo  and  Morocco.  Probably,  however,  they  might  claim  the 
inmates  of  a small  Portuguese  trading  house  or  two,  somewhere  about 
the  mouth  of  the  Rio  Grande. 

Of  the  Dutch,  we  only  find  reason  to  believe  that  they  made  some 
slight  attempts  to  proselyte  the  negroes  immediately  around  their 
castles  and  trading  houses.  The  Portuguese  say  that  the  negroes, 
“being  barbarians,  readily  enough  swallowed  Calvin’s  poison ; ” the 
meaning  of  which  doubtless  is,  that  the  Dutch  taught  them  to  despise 


COLONIZATION  AND  MISSIONS. 


29 


Moiavian  Missions. — Sierra  Leone. — Capt  Beaver. — 173fi — 1792. 

popery.  Artus  mentions  attempts  of  Dutch  residents  to  instruct  them, 
and  speaks  of  one  who  had  been  so  instructed  by  a monk  at  Elmina, 
that  he  was  able  to  quote  Scripture  in  reply.  Bosnian,  a sturdy  Duich 
Protestant,  says  that  if  it  were  possible  to  convert  them,  the  Romanists 
would  stand  the  best  chance  for  success ; because  they  already  agree 
with  them  in  several  particulars,  especially  in  their  ridiculous  ceremo- 
nies, their  abstinence  from  certain  kinds  of  food  at  certain  times,  their 
reliance  on  antiquity,  and  the  like.  The  negroes,  seem  to  have  rea- 
soned differently,  and  to  have  thought  so  small  a change  not  worth  the 
making.  Bosman’s  remark,  however,  shows  that  the  Dutch  accomplish- 
ed but  little  among  them. 

The  Moravians  were  the  first  Protestants  who  seriously  undertook 
the  work  of  missions  in  Guinea.  In  1736,  they  sent  out  two  mission- 
aries, one  of  whom  was  a mulatto,  born  in  that  country.  His  colleague 
soon  died,  and  he  returned.  Their  efforts  were  resumed  from  time  to 
time,  till  1770.  In  all,  five  distinct  efforts  were  made,  and  eleven 
missionaries  sent  out.  The  mulatto  accompanied  several  of  the  expe- 
ditions, and  died  in  1760.  The  other  ten  all  died  in  Guinea,  before  they 
had  been  there  long  enough  to  be  useful.  Probably,  all  these  attempts 
were  on  the  Gold  Coast. 

Of  English  efforts  to  civilize  or  evangelize  Western  Africa,  we  find 
no  notice  till  I7S7,  when  a colony  of  free  blacks  from  America  was 
commenced  at  Sierra  Leone.  The  land  on  which  they  settled  was 
purchased  of  the  natives,  who  soon  after  attempted  to  drive  them  off 
or  exterminate  them.  When  visited  in  17S9,  half  their  number  had 
perished  by  violence  or  disease,  and  the  remainder  had  taken  refuge 
on  Bance  Island.  In  1791  and  1792,  the  colony  was  reinforced  by 
1,200  blacks  from  Jamaica,  who  had  at  first  settled  in  Nova  Scotia,  but 
found  the  climate  too  cold  for  them.  The  history  of  this  colony  is 
marked  by  an  almost  uninterrupted  series  of  gross  blunders  and  misman- 
agement; but  being  a well  meant  enterprise,  mainly  on  right  principles, 
and  sustained  with  true  English  pertinacity,  it  has  continued  to  grow, 
and  has  been  of  immense  value  to  Africa.  For  twenty  years  it  watched 
the  operations  of  the  British  slave  trade,  and  furnished  much  of  the 
information  which  induced  the  British  Parliament  to  abolish  it  in  1807. 
And  when  that  act  had  been  passed,  it  could  have  been  little  else  than 
a dead  letter,  had  there  not  been  a rendezvous  for  the  squadron,  a seat 
for  Courts  of  Admiralty,  and  a receptacle  for  recaptured  Africans,  at 
Sierra  Leone.  But  for  this  colonization  of  Africa  with  the  civilized 
descendants  of  Africans,  that  act  might  never  have  been  passed,  and  if 
passed,  must  have  been  nearly  inoperative. 

In  1792,  an  attempt  was  made  to  promote  civilization  in  Africa  by  a 
colony  of  whites,  of  which  Capt.  Beaver,  an  officer  in  the  expedition, 
afterwards  published  an  account,  which  we  have  not  been  able  to  ob- 
tain. We  only  learn  that  the  attempt  was  made  by  a “ philanthropic 
association  ” in  England ; that  they  sent  out  three  ships,  with  275 
colonists ; that  they  commenced  a settlement  on  Bulama  Island, 
near  the  mouth  of  the  Rio  Grande ; that  they  employed  only  the  free 
labor  of  colonists  and  hired  negroes ; that  they  suffered  much  from  the 
African  fever,  many  died,  others  returned,  and  in  two  years  the  colony 
was  extinct. 


30 


COLONIZATION  AND  MISSIONS. 


1795 — 1815. — English  Missions. 

In  1795,  several  English  families  went  to  Sierra  Leone,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  establishing  a mission  among  the  Foulahs  ; but  after  arriving 
in  Africa  and  considering  the  obstacles,  they  returned  without  com- 
mencing their  labors. 

In  1797,  the  Edinburgh  Missionary  Society  sent  out  two  mission- 
aries, who  commenced  a mission  among  the  Soosoos  on  the  Rio  Pon- 
gas ; the  Glasgow  Society  sent  out  two,  who  commenced  on  the  Island 
of  Bananas  ; and  the  London  Society  two,  who  began  among  the  Bul- 
loms.  In  1809,  one  of  them,  Mr.  Brunton,  returned,  enfeebled  by  dis- 
ease ; but  afterwards  engaged  in  a mission  at  Karass  near  the  Caspian 
Sea.  Mr.  Greig,  his  colleage,  had  been  murdered  by  a party  of 
Foulahs.  The  other  four  had  fallen  victims  to  the  climate. 

The  Church  Missionary  Society,  then  called  the  “ Society  for  Mis- 
sions in  Africa  and  the  East,”  sent  out  its  first  missionaries  in  1804. 
They  were  Germans  ; for,  after  several  years  of  effort,  no  English  mis- 
sionaries could  be  procured.  Two  years  before,  the  Sierra  Leone 
Company  had  been  seeking  five  years  in  vain  for  a chaplain.  The 
missionaries  arrived  at  Sierra  Leone,  April  14.  A subsequent  Report 
states,  that  they  would  have  been  instructed  to  commence  their  labors 
in  the  colony,  had  there  not  been  obstacles  to  their  usefulness  there,  of 
the  nature  of  which  we  are  not  informed.  As  it  was,  they  resided  in 
the  colony,  and  sought  for  stations  beyond  its  borders.  In  1806,  two 
others  were  sent  out,  one  of  whom,  Mr.  Nylander,  was  induced  to  serve 
as  chaplain  of  the  colony,  which  he  continued  to  do  till  1812.  These 
two  last  were  accompanied  by  William  Fantimani,  the  son  of  a chief 
at  Rio  Pongas,  educated  at  Clapham.  The  Report  for  1808  informs 
us,  that  the  missionaries  had  continued  their  search  for  stations  out  of 
the  colony,  but  had  every  where  been  met  by  insurmountable  obstacles. 
That  year,  however,  in  March,  they  were  able  to  commence  two  sta- 
tions on  the  Rio  Pongas,  Faritimania  and  Bashia.  Fantimania  in  a 
short  time  was  found  impracticable.  It  was  abandoned,  and  a new 
station  commenced  at  Canoffee.  In  1809,  two  others  were  sent  out, 
one  of  whom  soon  died.  One  of  the  older  brethren  also  died.  In 
1811,  two  more  were  sent  out.  In  1812,  three  mechanics  were  sent 
out.  Mr.  Nylander  resigned  his  chaplaincy,  and  commenced  a new 
station  among  the  Bulloms.  In  the  autumn,  the  chiefs  on  the  Rio 
Pongas  held  a palaver,  in  relation  to  sending  the  missionaries  out  of 
the  country,  on  the  pretence  that  their  presence  injured  the  trade,  that 
is,  the  slave  trade.  In  1813,  two  of  the  mechanics  and  the  wife  of  one 
of  them  died.  Troubles  with  the  natives  continued.  In  1814,  they 
suffered  much  from  sickness.  The  other  mechanic  and  the  widow  of 
another  died.  The  opposition  of  the  natives  increased.  A new  sta- 
tion was  commenced  on  the  Rio  Dembia,  and  called  Gambier.  Mr. 
Klein,  the  missionary,  finding  no  prospect  of  usefulness,  removed  to 
the  Isles  de  Los,  staid  there  half  a year,  and  meeting  insurmountable 
opposition,  removed  to  Kapuru,  on  the  continent,  among  the  Bagoes. 
These  events  may  have  extended  into  the  next  year.  Their  attention 
was  now  turning  to  the  colony.  In  1815,  seven  male  and  female  mis- 
sionaries and  two  educated  natives  were  sent  out.  Four  of  the  seven, 
two  of  their  children,  and  two  of  the  older  members  of  the  mission 
died.  In  January,  the  three  principal  buildings  at  Bashia,  with  the 


COLONIZATION  AND  MISSIONS. 


31 


English  Mission. — 1816—1844. 


libraries,  were  burned  by  the  natives.  Mr.  Hughes  and  his  wife,  one 
of  the  seven  above  mentioned,  set  out  for  home  to  save  her  life  ; but 
stopped  at  Goree,  as  she  was  unable  to  proceed.  Here  her  health  im- 
proved, and  they  opened  a school.  In  1816,  four  teachers  with  their 
wives  were  sent  out.  The  Rev.  Edward  Bickersteth,  Assistant  Secre- 
tary, visited  the  mission.  He  thought  the  colony,  which  now  contain- 
ed 9,000  or  10,000  inhabitants,  most  of  whom  were  recaptured  Afri- 
cans, the  most  promising  field  of  usefulness.  The  “ Christian  Institu- 
tion ” had  already  a goodly  number  of  pupils,  and  they  were  erecting 
extensive  buildings  for  its  permanent  accommodation.  Governor 
Mac  Carthy  wrote  : — “ I conceive  that  the  first  effectual  step  towards 
the  establishment  of  Christianity,  will  be  found  in  the  division  of  this 
peninsula  into  parishes,  appointing  to  each  a clergyman  to  instruct  his 
flock  in  Christianity,  and  enlightening  their  minds  to  the  various  duties 
and  advantages  inherent  to  civilization  ; thus  making  Sierra  Leone  the 
base,  from  whence  future  exertions  may  be  extended,  step  by  step,  to 
the  very  interior  of  Africa.”  The  division  into  parishes  was  in  pro- 
gress. Bashia  was  given  up.  Preaching  was  commenced  at  Lissa 
and  Jesulu,  near  Canoffee.  A chapel  was  built  at  Lissa.  In  1817, 
the  troubles  from  the  natives  continued  to  increase.  The  Society  an- 
nounced its  expectation  of  being  compelled  to  abandon  all  its  stations 
beyond  the  limits  of  the  colony.  In  1818,  February  16,  the  mission- 
aries, in  a general  meeting  at  Freetown,  decided  to  withdraw  from  the 
Rio  Pongas.  Those  stations  were  accordingly  abandoned.  It  was 
also  found  necessary  to  retire  from  Yongroo,  among  the  Bulloms, 
though  only  seven  miles  from  Freetown,  the  capital  of  the  colony. 
Goree  was  restored  to  the  French,  and  the  station  abandoned.  July 
14,  a proclamation  in  the  Sierra  Leone  Gazette  announced  the  occupa- 
tion of  the  Isles  de  Los,  as  British  Territory.  Mr.  Klein  was  appoint- 
ed pastor  there,  closed  his  station  among  the  Bagoes,  and  entered  upon 
the  duties  of  his  office.  The  Society  had  now  no  station  beyond  the  limits 
of  the  colony.  It  was  intimated,  that  their  relinquishment  might  be 
only  temporary ; but  it  has  never  yet  been  found  advisable  to  renew 
them. 

According  to  the  latest  accounts,  this  mission  now  has  14  stations, 
62  laborers,  1,275  communicants,  6,086  attendants  on  public  worship, 
and  5,475  pupils  in  its  schools.  One  of  these  stations  is  at  Port 
Lokkoh,  in  theTimmanee  country;  but  whether  in  that  part  of  the 
country  which  has  been  fully  ceded  to  the  colony,  or  that  which  is 
merely  in  a state  of  dependent  alliance,  we  have  not  been  able  to  as- 
certain. 

The  English  Wesleyan  mission  in  the  colony,  which  was  commenc- 
ed about  the  year  1817,  reports  2,371  members,  23  paid  teachers,  and 
1,462  pupils.  The  Wesleyans  have  also  stations  at  the  British  posts 
on  the  Gambia  and  Gold  and  Slave  Coasts.  Supported  by  the  latter, 
they  are  attempting  an  inland  station  among  the  Ashantees ; but  the 
result  is  yet  very  doubtful. 

Some  passages  in  the  works  from  which  these  facts  have  been 
gathered,  seem  to  refer  to  still  other  attempts  to  enlighten  Western 
Africa;  but  if  there  were  others,  they  came  to  an  end  so  soon  and  so 
fruitlessly,  as  to  leave  no  record  that  has  reached  us. 


32 


COLONIZATION  AND  MISSIONS. 


182*2. — Liberia  Founded — Recapitulation. 


American  attempts — with  the  exception  of  one  or  two  private  efforts, 
which  led  to  no  results — commenced  with  the  planting  of  Liberia,  in 
1822.  Their  history  is  before  the  public  in  various  forms,  and  need 
not  be  repeated  here.  They  have  led  to  the  establishment  of  two  civil- 
ized republics,  the  planting  of  nearly  thirty  Christian  churches,  and 
the  conversion  and  civilization  of  hundreds  of  the  natives  ; besides  all 
that  they  have  done  for  the  suppression  of  piracy  and  the  slave  trade, 
and  the  general  improvement  of  that  part  of  the  world. 


PART  IV. 


Recapitulation. — Conclusion. 

Such  have  been  the  leading  facts  in  respect  to  Western  Africa  from 
the  time  of  Ibn  Haukal  to  the  present  day, — about  nine  centuries. 
From  the  first  purchase  of  negro  slaves  by  Portuguese  voyagers,  has 
been  402  years  ; from  the  first  discovery  of  the  negro  country  by  the 
Portuguese,  397  years  ; from  the  discovery  of  Cape  Mesurado,  382 
years;  and  from  the  complete  exploration  of  the  coast  of  Upper 
Guinea,  373  years;  and  this,  even  if  we  reject  the  accounts  of  the 
French,  who  profess  to  have  had  trading  posts  where  Liberia  now  is, 
498  years  ago.  At  our  earliest  dates,  the  natives  were  idolaters  of  the 
grossest  kind,  polygamists,  slave  holders,  slave  traders,  kidnappers, 
offerers  of  human  sacrifices,  and  some  of  them  cannibals.  Forc  four 
centuries,  or  five  if  we  receive  the  French  account,  they  have  been  in 
habits  of  constant  intercourse  with  the  most  profligate,  the  most  licen- 
tious, the  most  rapacious,  and  in  every  respect  the  vilest  and  most  cor- 
rupting classes  of  men  to  be  found  in  the  civilized  world, — with  slave 
traders,  most  of  whom  were  pirates  in  every  thing  but  courage,  and 
many  of  whom  committed  piracy  whenever  they  dared, — and  with  pirates 
in  the  fullest  sense  of  the  word.  Before  the  year  1600,  the  influence 
of  these  men  had  been  sufficient  to  displace  the  native  languages  in 
the  transaction  of  business,  and  substitute  the  Portuguese,  which  was 
generally  understood  and  used  in  their  intercourse  with  foreigners; 
and  since  that  time,  the  Portuguese  has  been  in  like  manner  displaced 
by  the  English.  By  this  intercourse,  the  natives  were  constantly  stim- 
ulated to  crimes  of  the  deepest  dye,  and  thoroughly  trained  to  all  the 
vices  of  civilization  which  savages  are  capable  of  learning.  During 
the  most  fearful  predominance  of  undisguised  piracy,  from  1688  to 
1730,  their  demoralization  went  on,  especially  upon  the  Windward 
Coast,  more  rapidly  than  ever  before,  and  became  so  intense,  that  it 
was  impossible  to  maintain  trading  houses  on  shore;  so  that,  on  this 
account,  as  we  are  expressly  informed,  in  1730,  there  wTas  not  a single 
European  factory  on  that  whole  coast.  Trade  was  then  carried  on  by 
ships  passing  along  the  coast,  and  stopping  wherever  the  natives  kin- 
dled a fire  as  a signal  for  traffic.  And  this  continued  to  be  the  usual 
mode  of  intercourse  on  that  coast,  when  the  British  Parliament,  in 
1791,  began  to  collect  evidence  concerning  the  slave  trade.  Nor  were 


COLONIZATION  AND  MISSIONS. 


33 


Recapitulation. 

factories  re-established  there,  till  the  slave  trade  and  its  attendant  vices 
had  diminished  the  danger  by  depopulating  the  country. 

It  appears,  too,  that  nothing  has  ever  impeded  or  disturbed  the  con- 
stant flow  of  this  bad  influence,  but  Colonization  and  its  consequences. 
The  Colony  of  Sierra  Leone  was  planted,  as  a means  of  resisting  and 
ultimately  suppressing  the  slave  trade.  The  testimony  which  it  col- 
lected and  furnished  during  twenty  years  of  labor  and  suffering,  was 
the  principal  means  of  inducing  the  British  Parliament  to  pass  the  act 
of  1807,  abolishing  that  traffic.  From  that  time  to  the  present,  it  has 
rendered  indispensable  assistance  in  all  that  has  been  done  to  enforce 
that  act.  Through  its  influence,  the  slave  trade  is  suppressed,  slavery 
itself  is  abolished,  and  a Christian  and  civilized  negro  community*  of 
40,000  or  50,000  persons  is  established,  on  the  territory  which  it  con- 
trols. Liberia,  only  about  one  third  as  old,  has  expelled  slave  traders  and 
pirates  from  300  miles  of  coast,  with  the  exception  of  a single  point, 
brought  a native  population  of  10,000  or  15,000,  by  their  own  consent, 
under  the  protection  and  control  of  a civilized  republican  government 
which  does  not  tolerate  slavery,  and  brought  from  60,000  to  100,000 
more  to  renounce  the  slave  trade  and  other  barbarous  usages.  Still 
later,  another  British  settlement  of  recaptured  Africans  on  the  Gambia 
has  begun  to  do  the  same  good  work  in  that  region.  Beyond  Cape 
Palmas,  a few  British,  Dutch  and  Danish  forts  overawe  the  natives  in 
their  immediate  vicinity,  and  one  of  them  protects  a mission.  Else- 
where, the  work  is  not  even  begun. 

The  summary  of  Christian  missions  without  Colonization  may  be 
given  in  a few  words.  The  Roman  Catholics  come  first.  Omitting 
the  French  statement,  of  a chapel  built  at  Elmina  in  1387,  let  us  begin 
with  the  Portuguese  mission  at  that  place,  in  1482.  Romish  missions 
continued  till  that  of  the  Spanish  Capuchins  at  Sierra  Leone  was  given 
up  in  1723,  which  was  241  years.  They  made  no  impression,  except 
upon  their  immediate  dependents ; and  what  they  made,  was  soon  to- 
tally obliterated.  Their  stations  were  numerous,  along  the  whole 
coast ; but  every  vestige  of  their  influence  has  been  gone,  for  many 
generations. 

Protestant  missionary  attempts  were  commenced  by  the  Moravians 
in  1736,  108  years  ago,  and  continued  till  1770.  Five  attempts  cost 
eleven  lives,  and  effected  nothing.  The  account  of  them  scarce  fills  a 
page  in  Crantz’s  “ History  of  the  Brethren.” 

English  attempts  have  been  more  numerous.  That  of  Capt.  Beaver 
at  Bulama  Island,  in  1792,  does  not  appear  to  have  been  distinctively 
of  a missionary  character,  though  it  must  have  contemplated  the  intro- 
duction and  diffusion  of  Christianity,  as  one  of  its  results  and  means  of 
success.  It  failed  in  two  years,  and  with  the  loss  of  more  than  100 
lives.  The  mission  to  the  Foulahs,  in  1795,  found,  when  at  Sierra 
Leone,  insuperable  obstacles  to  success,  and  returned  without  com- 
mencing its  labors.  The  three  stations  commenced  by  the  London, 
Edinburgh  and  Glasgow  Societies  in  1797,  were  extinct,  and  five  of 


* That  is,  Christian  and  civilized  in  respect  to  the  character  of  its  government  and  institu- 
tions, and  the  predominant  character  of  the  people;  though  multitudes  of  the  inhabitants,  but 
lately  rescued  from  the  holds  of  slave  ships,  are  just  beginning  to  learn  what  Christianity  and 
civilization  are. 

5 


34 


COLONIZATION  AND  MISSIONS. 


Recapitulation. 

the  six  missionaries  dead,  in  1800.  The  Church  Missionary  Society 
sent  out  its  first  missionaries  in  1804  ; but  it  was  four  years  before 
they  could  find  a place  out  of  the  Colony,  where  they  could  commence 
their  labors.  They  established  and  attempted  to  maintain  ten  stations, 
viz.  Fantimania,  Bashia,  Canoffee,  Lissa  and  Jesulu,  on  or  near  the 
Rio  Pongas,  Gambier  on  the  Rio  Dembia,  Gambier  on  the  Isles  de 
Los,  Gambier  among  the  Bagoes,  Goree,  and  Yongroo  among  the  Bul- 
loms.  Goree  was  given  up  to  the  French  and  abandoned.  The  hos- 
tility of  the  natives,  who  preferred  the  slave  traders  to  them,  drove  the 
missionaries  from  the  other  nine,  and  forced  them  to  take  refuge  in 
the  Colony  of  Sierra  Leone,  the  only  place  where  they  could  labor  with 
safety  and  with  hope.  Here,  without  counting  Sierra  Leone  and  Goree, 
are  eighteen  Protestant  missionary  attempts  before  the  settlement  of 
Liberia,  all  of  which  failed  from  the  influence  of  the  climate  and  the 
hostility  of  the  natives.  Since  the  settlement  of  Liberia,  attempts  to 
sustain  missions  without  colonial  protection  have  been  made  at  Half 
Cavally,  within  the  territorial  limits  of  Cape  Palmas,  and  at  Rockbo- 
kah  and  Taboo,  in  its  immediate  vicinity,  and  within  the  reach  of  its 
constant  influence.  The  result  has  been  already  stated.  The  mission 
of  the  Presbyterian  Board  has  been  removed  to  Settra  Kroo,  about  sev- 
enteen miles  from  the  Mississippi  settlement  at  Sinou.  Death  has  re- 
duced its  numbers  to  a single  widow,  who  teaches  a school.  As  the 
Kroos  have  bound  themselves  by  their  late  treaty  with  the  Mberian 
government,  “ to  foster  and  protect  the  American  missionaries;”  and 
as  the  mission  is  placed  where  no  hostile  act  can  long  be  concealed 
from  that  government,  it  may  be  regarded  as  safe  under  colonial  pro- 
tection. The  mission  of  the  American  Board  has  been  removed  from 
Cape  Palmas,  about  1,250  miles,  to  the  River  Gaboon,  in  Lower  Guin- 
ea, and  placed  among  a people,  whom  the  missionaries  represent  as 
much  superior  to  any  within  the  region  embraced  in  these  researches. 
Its  labors  here  commenced  in  July,  1842.  It  is  yet  uncertain,  there- 
fore, whether  it  will  be  able  to  maintain  its  ground,  even  as  long  as 
did  the  English  mission  at  the  Rio  Pongas.  An  attempt,  the  success 
of  which  is  yet  doubtful,  to  establish  a “ Mendi  Mission,”  between 
Sierra  Leone  and  Liberia,  where  the  vicinity  of  both  those  colonies 
will  diminish  the  danger ; two  or  three  English  Wesleyan  stations,  pro- 
tected by  the  British  Forts  on  the  Gold  and  Slave  Coasts;  the  mis- 
sions in  South  Africa,  most  of  which  are  within  the  Cape  Colony,  and 
the  remainder  among  tribes  under  its  influence  and  deriving  safety 
from  its  power  ; an  attempt  to  open  intercourse  with  the  nominal  Chris- 
tians of  Abyssinia  ; a small  English  mission  to  the  Copts  at  Cairo,  and 
still  smaller  French  mission  at  Algiers, — if  this  last  still  exists, — com- 
plete the  list,  so  far  as  we  can  learn,  of  Protestant  missionary  attempts 
on  the  continent  of  Africa.  To  these,  add  the  attempt  of  Capt.  Bea- 
ver and  others  to  promote  civilization  by  a colony  of  Englishmen  at 
Bulama  Island  in  1792,  and  the  late  disastrous  Niger  Expedition  of  the 
British  government,  and  we  have  the  sum  total  of  Protestant  expedi- 
tions for  the  improvement  of  African  character. 

The  failure  of  the  Niger  expedition  prostrates  for  the  present,  and 
probably  forever,  the  hope  which  it  was  intended  to  realize  ; the  hope 
of  opening  an  intercourse  with  the  less  demoralized  nations  of  the  inte- 


COLONIZATION  AND  MISSIONS. 


35 


Recapitulation. 

rior,  by  ascending  that  river.  It  has  shown  that  we  must  reach  the 
countries  on  the  Niger  from  the  west,  by  the  route  pointed  out  by  Gen. 
Harper  in  1817,  and  followed  by  the  Portuguese  mulattoes  in  1060. 
Of  all  Atlantic  ports,  Monrovia  is  probably  the  nearest  to  the  boatable 
waters  of  the  Niger.  The  Atlantic  termination  of  the  route  must  be 
somewhere  from  Liberia  to  Sierra  Leone,  inclusive.  Nor  is  there  any 
reason  to  hope  that  this  route  can  ever  be  made  available  for  any  pur- 
pose of  practical  utility,  till  Colonization  has,  in  a good  degree,  civil- 
ized the  country  through  which  it  must  pass.  VVe  must  begin  by  civ- 
ilizing and  Christianizing  the  population  on  the  coast.* 


*If  any  are  alarmed  at  the  supposed  expensiveness  of  our  enterprise,  we  would  suggest  to 
them,  in  the  first  place,  that  the  thought  of  leaving  Africa  forever  in  her  present  horrible  con- 
dition, for  the  sake  of  avoiding  any  expense  whatever,  is  unchristian,  and  not  to  be  entertained 
for  a moment.  Africa  must  be  converted  ; and  whatever  expense  is  really  necessary  for  that 
purpose,  must  be  incurred.  In  the  second  place,  we  would  submit  the  following  estimate,  by 
the  late  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  of  the  expense  of  the  squadron  of  80  guns,  which  the  United 
Stales  is  bound  by  the  Ashburton  treaty,  to  keep  on  tile  African  coast  for  the  suppression  of 
the  slave  trade.  It  is  dated  Dec.  29,  184-2,  and  was  made  in  obedience  to  a resolution  of  the 
Senate,  of  the  14th  of  that  month  : — 


Number  and  class  of  vessels. 

| Cost  of  the  vessels. 

Arm’!  cost  of  repairs, 
and  wear  and  tear. 

! 

Number  of  officers.  1 

Number  of  petty  offi- 
cers, seamen,  and 
marines. 

Annual  expense  un- 
der all  heads  of  ex- 
penditures, except 
wear  and  tear. 

Two  sloops  of  1st  class 

5257,655 

520,000 

41 

366 

5133,986 

Four  brigs  or  schooners 

166,587 

20,000 

40 

260 

107,196 

Total  .... 

424,242 

40,000 

82 

626 

241,182 

According  to  this  estimate,  the  expense  of  a brig  or  schooner,  including  interest  on  her  first 
cost,  is  534,297  a year,  or  52,838  a month.  On  the  300  miles  of  coast  which  we  wish  to 
possess,  there  is  still  one  slave  factory, — at  New  Cess.  The  expense  of  watching  that  fac- 
tory two  months,  with  the  smallest  vessel  in  the  squadron,  would  be  amply  sufficient  to  pur- 
chase New  Cess,  settle  it  with  emancipated  slaves  from  Tennessee,  and  thus  slop  the  slave 
trade  there  for  ever.  Again:  The  150  miles  of  coast,  or  thereabouts,  which  we  wish  to 
purchase,  will  cost,  it  is  supposed,  513,UO0  or  520,000;  say  520,000,  which  is  133J  dollars  a 
mile.  This  is  probably  high  enough,  as  the  last  purchase  of  ten  miles  cost  but  thirty  dollars 
a mile.  The  whole  slave  trading  coast  of  Western  Africa  is  estimated,  in  round  numbers,  at 
4.000  miles.  This  includes  some  long  tracts  of  coast,  on  which  there  is  no  slave  tiade  ; but 
let  that  pass.  The  whole  4,000  miles,  if  in  the  market  at  133J  dollars  a mile,  would  cost 
5533,333  The  annual  expense  of  our  squadron  of  80  guns,  including  interest  on  the  first 
cost,  is  5306,686.  Its  expense  in  two  years  is  5013,272 ; being  enough  to  buy  the  whole 
4.000  miles,  and  leave  a surplus  of  579,939,  or  538,868  a year,  to  be  expended  in  coloniza- 
tion. And  yet  again  : The  whole  expense  of  this  work  can  by  no  means  be  allowed  to  fall 
upon  this  country.  The  annual  expense  of  the  llrilish  squadrons  employed  in  watch  ng  the 
slave  trade,  for  several  years  past,  has  been  estimated  at  £500,000,  or  about  52,437,500, 
and  (here  is  no  probability  that  it  can  be  diminished,  if  the  present  system  be  continued,  for 
many  years  to  come.  Here  is  a sum,  large  enough  to  meet  the  expense  of  purchasing  and 
colonizing  to  any  desirable  extent,  and  with  any  desirable  rapidity.  The  most  difficult  parts 
of  the  coast  to  manage  are  the  possessions  of  Portugal,  a power  almost  wholly  under  the  pro- 
tection and  dictation  of  Great  Britain.  Here  is  money  enough  to  pay  for  them  all,  and  thus 
end  that  part  of  the  trouble  at  once  and  forever.  . 

We  are  perfectly  aware  that  the  whole  of  these  naval  expenditures  cannot  be  diverted  to 
the  purposes  of  colonization,  as  some  ships  must  be  kept  on  that  coast  for  other  objects ; that 
some  portions  of  the  coast  may  not  be  purchasable  at  any  price;  and  that  national  jealousies 
may  interpose  hindrances  to  the  straight-forward  execution  of  such  a plan  in  its  full  extent. 
Still,  it  is  none  the  less  evident,  that  colonization,  so  far  as  it  is  practicable,  is  beyond  com- 


36 


COLONIZATION  AND  MISSIONS. 


Recapitulation. — Conclusion. 


And  this  work  is  going  on  successfully,  by  the  colonization  of  the 
coast  with  civilized  men  of  African  descent.  Sierra  Leone  has  done 
much,  notwithstanding  its  great  and  peculiar  disadvantages.  Its 
thousands,  among  whom  all  the  safety  of  civilization  is  enjoyed,  have 
already  been  mentioned.  Liberia  Proper  has  under  its  jurisdiction,  a 
population  of  15,000  or  more,  among  whom  any  missionary  who  can 
endure  the  climate,  may  labor  without  danger  and  without  interruption. 
Of  these,  more  than  10,000  are  natives  of  the  country,  in  the  process 
of  civilization.  Of  these  natives,  about  1,500  are  so  far  civilized  that 
the  heads  of  families  among  them  are  thought  worthy  to  vote,  and  do 
vote,  at  elections;  353  are  communicants  in  the  several  churches ; and 
the  remainder,  generally,  are  merely  unconverted  human  beings,  who 
have  some  respect  for  Christianity,  and  none  for  any  other  religion. 
Among  these,  neither  the  slave  trade  nor  slavery  is  tolerated.  Besides 
these,  numerous  tribes,  comprising  a population  of  from  50,000  to 
100,000,  and  according  to  some  statements,  a still  greater  number, 
have  placed  themselves  by  treaty  under  the  civilizing  influence  of  the 
colony ; have  made  the  slave  trade  and  various  other  barbarous  and 
heathenish  usages  unlawful,  and  many  of  them  have  stipulated  to  foster 
and  protect  American  missionaries.  The  territory  of  these  allied 
tribes  is  supposed  to  extend  half  way  to  the  waters  of  the  Niger. 
Several  missionary  stations  have  already  been  established  among  them, 
with  perfect  confidence  in  their  safety. 

The  Maryland  colony  at  Cape  Palmas,  though  but  ten  years  old, 
and  numbering  less  than  TOO  emigrants,  has  also  proved  a safe  field  for 
missionary  labor. 

Still  later,  it  would  seem,  though  we  have  not  been  able  to  obtain 
exact  information,  the  British  government  has  settled  about  1,500  lib- 
erated Africans  from  Sierra  Leone,  on  the  Gambia;  some  of  them, 
probably,  at  Bathurst,  near  the  mouth  of  the  river ; and  some  of  them, 
certainly,  at  Macarthy’s  Island,  300  miles  from  its  mouth.  At  both  of 
these  settlements,  the  English  Wesleyan  missions  are  flourishing. 
That  at  Bathurst  reckons  2T9  converts,  and  the  other  254. 

It  has  usually  been  supposed,  that  sensible  and  candid  men  may 
learn  from  experience.  If  so,  it  would  seem  that  such  a variety  of  ex- 
periments, extending  through  four  centuries,  and  all  pointing  to  the 
same  conclusion,  might  suffice  to  teach  them.  Consider  the  numerous 


parison  the  cheapest  mode  of  exterminating  the  slave  trade  and  civilizing  Africa  ; and  that 
Great  Britain  and  the  United  States  are  expending  money  enough,  if  judiciously  applied,  to 
give  Christian  civilization  an  overwhelming  predominance  on  the  whole  coast,  and  thus  finish 
the  work  in  a very  few  years. 

The  greatest  obstacles  to  the  complete  execution  of  such  a plan,  however,  are  found  in  two 
points  of  British  policy.  In  the  first  place,  Great  Britain  is  unwilling  to  make  her  colonics 
sufficiently  democratic.  Instead  of  calling  out  the  energies  of  her  colonists  by  loading  them 
with  the  responsibility  and  stimulating  them  with  the  honor  of  self-government,  she  aims  only 
to  make  them  a virtuous  peasantry,  under  officers  appointed  and  paid  by  the  crown.  This 
policy  vastly  increases  the  expense  of  her  establishments,  while  it  diminshes  their  efficiency. 
For  adhering  to  it,  however,  she  has  some  apology  in  the  fact,  that  she  has  few  subjects  for 
colonization  in  Africa,  of  equal  capacity  with  ours.  In  the  second  place,  instead  of  wishing 
•In  colonize  Africa,  she  is  desirous,  and  is  endeavoring,  as  a substitute  lor  the  slave  trade,  to 
transfer  free  laborers  from  Africa  to  the  West  Indies,  to  be  a laboring  peasantry  there.  The 
good  of  Africa,  and  the  most  cheap  and  effectual  suppression  of  the  slave  trade,  must  be  sa- 
crificed to  the  interests  of  her  sugar-planters.  This,  however,  need  not  hinder  us  from  doing 
that  part  of  the  work  which  belongs  to  us,  in  the  best  possible  way.  See  the  Letter  of  Com- 
modore Perry,  on  a subsequent  page. 


COLONIZATION  AND  MISSIONS. 


37 


Conclusion. 


attempts  by  Romanists  of  different  nations  and  orders,  Portuguese, 
Spaniards  and  French,  Capuchins,  Dominicans  and  Jesuits,  and  by 
Protestants  of  divers  nations  and  communions,  to  sustain  missions 
there  without  colonies,  and  always  with  the  same  result.  Consider, 
too,  that  every  attempt  to  introduce  Christianity  and  civilization  by 
colonizing  Africa  with  people  of  African  descent,  has  been,  in  a greater 
or  less  degree,  successful.  Every  such  colony  planted,  still  subsists, 
and  wherever  its  jurisdiction  extends,  has  banished  piracy  and  the  slave 
trade;  extinguished  domestic  slavery  ; put  an  end  to  human  sacrifices 
and  cannibalism ; established  a constitutional  civil  government,  trial 
by  jury  and  the  reign  of  law ; introduced  the  arts,  usages  and  comforts 
of  civilized  life,  and  imparted  them  to  more  or  less  of  the  natives; 
established  schools,  built  houses  of  worship,  gathered  churches,  sus- 
tained the  preaching  of  the  gospel,  protected  missionaries,  and  seen 
native  converts  received  to  Christian  communion.  Not  a colony  has 
been  attempted,  without  leading  to  all  these  results. 

In  view  of  these  facts, — while  we  readily  grant  that  some  Liberians 
sing,  pray  and  exhort  too  loud  at  their  religious  meetings  ; that  some 
profess  much  piety,  who  have  little  or  none ; that  some  of  the  people  are 
indolent  and  some  dishonest,  and  that  some  of  their  children  play 
pranks  in  school,  all  greatly  to  the  annoyance  of  white  missionaries 
worn  down  by  the  fever, — still,  we  claim  that  the  influence  of  Coloni- 
zation is  favorable  to  the  success  of  Missions,  to  the  progress  of  civili- 
zation, and  of  Christian  piety.  As  witnesses,  we  show,  in  the  Colo- 
nies of  Cape  Palmas,  Liberia  Proper,  Sierra  Leone  and  on  the  Gambia, 
more  than  one  hundred  missionaries  and  assistant  missionaries,  many 
of  them  of  African  descent,  and  some  of  them  native  Africans,  now 
engaged  in  successful  labors  for  the  regeneration  of  Africa.  We  show 
the  fruits  of  their  labors, — more  than  five  thousand  regular  communi- 
cants in  Christian  churches,  more  than  twelve  thousand  regular  attend- 
ants on  the  preaching  of  the  gospel,  and  many  tens  of  thousands  of 
natives,  perfectly  accessible  to  missionary  labors.  All  this  has  been 
done  since  the  settlement  of  Sierra  Leone  in  1787,  and  nearly  all  since 
the  settlement  of  Liberia  in  1822.  We  show,  as  the  result  of  the 
opposite  system,*  after  nearly  four  centuries  of  experiment,  and  more 
than  a century  of  Protestant  experiment,  a single  station,  with  one 
missionary  and  perhaps  one  or  two  assistants,  at  Kaw  Mendi,  under  the 
shadow  of  two  colonies,  and  one  mission  which  has  retired  from  the 
field  of  our  inquiries  to  Lower  Guinea  ; neither  of  which  has  occupied 
its  ground  long  enough  to  exert  any  appreciable  influence  in  its  vicini- 
ty, or  even  to  ascertain  the  possibility  of  effecting  a permanent  estab- 
lishment.! 

We  claim,  therefore,  that  the  question  is  decided  ; that  the  facts  of 
the  case,  when  once  known,  preclude  all  possibility  of  reasonable 
doubt.  We  claim  that  the  combined  action  of  Colonization  and  Mis- 
sions is  proved  to  be  an  effectual  means,  and  is  the  only  known  means, 
of  converting  and  civilizing  Africa. 


* The  Wesleyan  mission  protected  hy  British  forts  on  the  Gold  Coast,  does  not  belong  to 
the  opposite  system. 

t If  missions  should  now  prove  successful  beyond  the  limits  of  colonial  jurisdiction,  it  would 
only  prove  that  the  beneficial  influence  of  colonization  is  fell  along  the  whole  coast,  and  has 
rendered  missionary  success  practicable,  where  it  was  formerly  impracticable. 


38 


COLONIZATION  AND  MISSIONS. 


Present  condition  of  Liberia. 


And  who,  that  believes  this,  will  not  give  heart  and  hand  to  the 
work?  Need  we,  after  all  that  has  been  said,  appeal  to  sympathy? 
Need  we  here  to  repeat  the  catalogue  of  horrors  from  which  Africa 
groans  to  be  delivered?  Need  we  mention  the  slave  trade,  devouring 
five  hundred  thousand  of  her  children  annually  ; her  domestic  slavery, 
crushing  in  its  iron  bondage  more  slaves  than  exist  in  the  whole  wide 
world  besides;  her  ruthless  despotisms,  under  which  not  even  the  in- 
fant sleeps  securely  ; her  dark  and  cruel  superstitions,  soaking  the 
graves  of  her  despots  with  human  blood  ; her  rude  palaces,  adorned 
with  human  skulls;  her  feasts,  made  horrid  with  human  flesh?  Shall 
not  a work,  and  the  only  work,  which  has  proved  itself  able  to  grapple 
with  and  conquer  these  giant  evils,  be  dear  to  every  heart  that  loves 
either  God  or  man  ? It  must  be  so.  The  piety  and  philanthropy  of 
Christendom  cannot  refrain  from  entering  this  open  door,  and  trans- 
forming those  dread  abodes  of  wretchedness  and  sin,  into  habitations 
of  Christian  purity  and  peace  and  joy. 


A P P E N D I X. 


PRESENT  CONDITION  OF  LIBERIA. 

We  request  attention  to  the  following  official  testimony  of  a witness, 
whose  character  for  competency  and  impartiality  is  beyond  suspicion: 

Letter  from  Commodore  Perry,  commanding  the  U.  S.  Squadron  on 
the  Coast  of  Africa,  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy. 

U.  S.  Frigate  Macedonian,  Monrovia,  West  Coast  of  Africa,  Jan.  4,  1844. 

Sir  : — It  may  be  expected  that  I should  communicate  to  the  Depart- 
ment some  information  in  regard  to  the  settlements  established  by  the 
Colonization  Societies  of  the  United  States  upon  this  coast. 

I shall,  therefore,  undertake  to  notice  in  general  terms  their  condi- 
tion. 

Having  had  an  agency  while  serving  many  years  ago  on  this  station 
as  First  Lieutenant  of  the  United  States  ship  “ Cyane,”  in  the  selec- 
tion of  Cape  Mesurado  as  a suitable  place  of  settlement  for  the  colonists, 
I first  saw  this  beautiful  promontory  when  its  dense  forests  were  only 
inhabited  by  wild  beasts  ; since  then  1 have  visited  it  thrice,  and  each 
time  have  noticed,  with  infinite  satisfaction,  its  progressive  improve- 
ment. 

The  Cape  has  now  upon  its  summit  a growing  town,  having  several 
churches,  a missionary  establishment,  school  house,  a building  for  the 
meeting  of  the  courts,  printing  presses,  warehouses,  shops,  &c.  In 


COLONIZATION  AND  MISSIONS. 


39 


Testimony  of  Commodore  Perry. 

fact  it  possesses  most  of  the  conveniences  of  a small  seaport  town  in 
the  United  States ; and  it  is  not  unusual  to  see  at  anchor  in  its  capa- 
cious road,  on  the  same  day,  one  or  more  vessels  of  war  and  two  or 
three  merchant  vessels. 

Hitherto  my  visits  to  this  place  have  been  necessarily  of  so  short  du- 
ration as  not  to  allow  of  any  examination  of  the  interior  portions  of 
the  settlement,  and  I can  only  judge  of  the  state  of  cultivation  of  the 
soil  from  what  I have  seen  in  the  vicinity  of  the  town.  But  I am  told 
that  the  agricultural  prospects  of  the  colony  are  brightening. 

It  appears  to  me,  however,  that  the  settlers  are  much  more  inclined 
to  commerce  and  small  trade  than  to  agricultural  pursuits,’  and  this  is 
the  universal  propensity  of  the  colored  people  at  all  the  settlements 
upon  the  coast  of  whatever  nation.  In  this  occupation  a few  of  the 
more  fortunate  and  prudent  of  the  American  settlers  have  acquired 
comparative  wealth,  whilst  others  have  barely  succeeded  in  securing  a 
decent  support. 

But  it  is  gratifying  to  witness  the  comforts  that  most  of  these  people 
have  gathered  about  them  ; many  of  them  are  familiar  with  luxuries 
which  were  unknown  to  the  early  settlers  of  North  America.  Want 
would  seem  to  be  a stranger  among  them  ; if  any  do  suffer,  it  must  be 
the  consequence  of  their  own  idleness. 

At  Cape  Palmas  I had  an  opportunity  of  seeing  the  small  farms  or 
clearings  of  the  colonists;  these  exhibited  the  fruit  of  considerable 
labor,  and  were  gradually  assuming  the  appearance  of  well  cultivated 
fields.  The  roads  throughout  this  settlement  are  excellent,  surprisingly 
so  when  we  consider  the  recent  establishment  of  the  Colony,  and  the 
limited  means  of  the  settlers. 

At  all  the  settlements  the  established  laws  are  faithfully  administered, 
the  morals  of  the  people  are  good,  and  the  houses  of  religion  are  well 
attended;  in  truth  the  settlers,  as  a community,  appear  to  be  strongly 
imbued  with  religious  feelings. 

Governor  Roberts,  of  Liberia,  and  Russwurm,  of  Cape  Palmas,  are 
intelligent  and  estimable  men,  executing  their  responsible  functions 
with  wisdom  and  dignity,  and  we  have,  in  the  example  of  those  gentle- 
men, irrefragable  proof  of  the  capability  of  colored  people  to  govern 
themselves. 

On  the  whole,  sir,  I cannot  but  think  most  favorably  of  those  settle- 
ments. The  experiment  of  establishing  the  free  colored  people  of  the 
United  States  upon  this  coast,  has  succeeded  beyond  the  expectations 
of  many  of  the  warmest  friends  of  colonization,  and  I may  venture  to 
predict  that  the  descendants  of  the  present  settlers  are  destined  to  be- 
come an  intelligent  and  thriving  people. 

The  climate  of  Western  Africa,  in  respect  to  its  influence  upon  the 
constitution  of  the  colored  settler , should  not  be  considered  insalubri- 
ous; all  must  undergo  the  acclimating  fever,  but  since  the  establish- 
ment of  comfortable  buildings  for  the  reception  of  the  new  comers, 
and  the  greater  amount  of  care  and  attention  that  can  be  bestowed  up- 
on them  during  their  sickness,  the  proportional  number  of  deaths  has 
been  very  much  decreased.  Once  through  this  ordeal  of  sickness,  and 
the  settler  finds  a climate  and  temperature  congenial  to  his  constitution 
and  habits.  But  it  is  not  so  with  the  white  man  ; to  him  a sojourn  of 


40 


COLONIZATION  AND  MISSIONS. 


Testimony  of  Commodore  Perry. 


a few  years  is  almost  certain  death  ; and  it  would  seem  that  the  Almighty 
had  interdicted  this  part  of  Africa  to  the  white  race,  and  had  reserved 
it  for  some  great  and  all-wise  purpose  of  His  own  infinite  goodness. 

So  far  as  the  influence  of  the  colonists  has  extended.it  has  been  ex- 
erted to  suppress  the  slave  trade,  and  their  endeavors  in  this  respect 
have  been  eminently  successful  ; and  it  is  by  planting  these  settlements 
(whether  American  or  European)  along  the  whole  extent  of  coast, 
from  Cape  Verde  to  Benguela,  that  the  exportation  of  slaves  will  be 
most  effectually  prevented. 

The  establishment  of  these  settlements  would  have  a certain  tenden- 
cy to  civilize  the  natives  in  their  immediate  vicinity,  by  introducing 
among  them  schools,  the  mechanic  arts,  and  in  greater  abundance  those 
comforts  with  which  they  have  recently  become  more  generally  ac- 
quainted, and  to  secure  which  they  are  disposed  to  make  greater  efforts 
to  provide  articles  of  African  produce  to  exchange  for  them. 

Thus  the  commerce  of  the  country,  already  considerable,  would  be 
increased,  and  new  fields  would  be  opened  to  the  labors  of  the  mis- 
sionary. 

It  is,  therefore,  very  much  to  be  desired  that  these  settlements  should 
be  multiplied  and  sustained  by  the  fostering  care  of  Congress  and  the 
Government. 

I have  the  honor  to  be,  &,c. 

M.  C.  Perry. 

Hon.  David  Hensiiaw. 


